The following are summaries of today's major stories published in the Arabic press. LBCI does not edit press digest articles for content, giving English-language readers insight into the various views expressed in newspapers across the Arab world.
Interior Minister Nouhad Mashnouq said on Thursday that the file of kidnapped soldiers should be addressed with a lot of patience and wisdom, noting that several options are being discussed. In an interview with As-Safir newspaper, Mashnouq said he will issue a statement today whereby he will call on the media to avoid speculation over the mentioned issue.
Lebanese Armed Forces chief Jean Kahwaji told Al-Mustaqbal daily on Thursday that the northeastern border town of Arsal is now under the state's control. "20 LAF soldiers were kidnapped and some may have been killed," Kahwaji said. "We care for the Lebanese town of Arsal as much as any other region in the country and we seek to improve the situation there," LAF chief Kahwaji added.
Governmental and security sources said on Thursday that tough negotiations are still underway between the Association of Muslim Scholars and parties representing "terrorists" in a bid to release the Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers who were kidnapped in Arsal. "It may take two days or more to exchange any kind of ideas between both sides," the same sources told Al-Joumhouria newspaper, pointing out that mediation efforts are facing obstacles. General Security sources also told the daily that the Director General of General Security, Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, who had met with a delegation of the Muslim clerics, has voiced his willingness to cooperate in this regard.
Former deputy Mosbah al-Ahdab hailed on Thursday Future Movement leader Saad Hariri's return to Lebanon, and said: "Hariri belongs here not anywhere else". In an interview with the Kuwait-based Al Anbaa daily, Ahdab said the attack on the Lebanese army in Arsal was not unprecedented, noting that the military institution had lost numerous martyrs across the Lebanese regions. Turning to the border town of Arsal, Ahdab said townsmen have been calling, since three years, for the deployment of the Lebanese army in order to protect citizens "but it seems that there wasn't a political decision in this regard".