Press Digest for Sunday October 12, 2014

3^min

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.

Speaker Berri to visit Hariri, Rai in Rome -sources

Speaker Nabih Berri is set to return to Beirut on Friday after he traveled to Geneva to participate in a parliamentary conference.

In this regard, sources told An-Nahar daily on Sunday that Berri may visit Rome where he will meet Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri and Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Beshara Boutros al-Rai on Monday.

Qatari mediator holds round of negotiations over Arsal captives dossier -sources

Ministerial sources said it is required to follow up on the negotiations aiming to release the kidnapped Lebanese troops, adding "there weren't new developments indicating that some progress has been achieved."

"The Qatari mediator has held, during the last few hours, a round of negotiations," the same sources told Al-Hayat newspaper on Sunday.

Nonetheless, the sources said they couldn't confirm whether he was still in Beirut or left to the Qatari capital of Doha.

MP Saad holds Hezbollah responsible for dragging Lebanon into Syrian crisis

Democratic Gathering bloc MP Antoine Saad held Lebanon's Shi'ite movement Hezbollah responsible for dragging the country into the Syrian war, "which has reached most of the Lebanese regions on the border with Syria."

In an interview with the Kuwait-based Al-Seyassah daily, MP Saad said the battles that took place in Brital's barren range have a clear significance.

"Terrorist groups in Syria's Qalamoun decided to expand their geographic scope by transferring battles to the Lebanese territories," he explained.

Assailants who hurled hand grenades at LAF checkpoint in Tripoli identified

Ministerial and Parliamentary sources in Tripoli reported on Sunday that a number of assailants who hurled hand grenades at a Lebanese army checkpoint at the entrance of Bab al-Tababneh on Friday were identified.

"The assailants are not linked to the Islamic State or the Nusra Front, but instead to groups supporting parties within the March 8 coalition," the sources told Al-Hayat newspaper.