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.
Sources close to Prime Minister Tammam Salam said that the latter has taken charge of the case of the abducted members of the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces in Arsal, stressing that he is deploying strong efforts to free the hostages.
In a statement to
Asharq al-Awsat daily, the sources stressed that Salam will not rest before putting an end to this issue.
Speaker Nabih Berri told
Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that a new initiative is under discussion in order to reach a solution for the issue of the presidential elections, three months after former President Michel Sleiman left office.
In this regard, Berri refused to reveal details of the initiative he has been discussing with the head of the Progressive Socialist Movement MP Walid Jumblatt, pointing out that the presidential vacuum is complicating the efforts to reach solutions for pending national matters.
On another note, Berri added that he was the first to warn head of the Change and Reform bloc MP Michel Aoun that dialogue with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri will not lead to any positive results, stating that Aoun later accepted his advice.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil denied reports stating that one of the ambassadors to Lebanon had discussed with him a possible mediation in the issue of the presidential elections, stressing that he is not a mediator in this regard.
In a statement to
an-Nahar, Bassil declared that the International Criminal Court has accepted a request he sent to the ICC’s prosecutor, which includes information pertaining to the events taking place in Iraq’s Mosul and Gaza, "even though Lebanon is not an ICC member," he said.
“We based our approach on article 15 of the court’s Rome Statute, which stipulates that the prosecutor may initiate investigations on the basis of information he received from any state or reliable group,” he stated, adding that Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda replied to the request saying that she will handle the case in accordance with the information provided.
An official of the Free Syrian Army in the region of of Qalamoun, Bassel Idris told
an-Nahar newspaper that Hezbollah eliminated FSA fighters from the regions of Qusair and Qalamoun, pushing them back to the outskirts of the party’s barracks in Britel and Baalbek, where Hezbollah sustained huge losses, which it refuses to admit.
In the same context, Idris said that Hezbollah does not own the same military force as the Syrian regime, "which has turned the developments in the favor of the Free Syrian Army."
On another note, the official revealed that the abducted members of the Lebanese army and security forces are receiving good treatment, expecting that they will be released in several batches, when the Lebanese government meets some of the demands of the abductors such as improving the situation of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon.