Press Digest for Friday December 05, 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 says Future-Hezbollah dialogue could begin next week

Visitors of Speaker Nabih Berri quoted him as saying on Friday that the dialogue between Hezbollah and the Future Movement will be launched next week.

The same sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper that the agenda would not contain items that both parties deem as disputed such as Hezbollah’s weapons and its military involvement in Syria.

Asked whether the presidential elections would be on the agenda, Berri said that both parties will discuss the presidential polls “just like other major topics including the election law.”

IS leader al-Baghdadi’s alleged wife Souja al-Doulaimi is pregnant-sources

Sources told As-Safir newspaper on Friday that the Islamic State leader Abou Bakr al-Baghdadi’s alleged wife, Souja al-Dulaimi, is pregnant.

According to the daily, al-Dulaimi refused to reveal the identity of the father of her baby, adding that she did not leave the Lebanese territory since her release in March 2014.

The same sources added that preliminary investigations revealed that al-Dulaimi‘s role was to finance the al-Nusra Front and to collect funds in order to send them to terrorist organizations in Syria.

A group of 20 persons leave Lebanon to battle alongside IS fighters in Syria-sources

Security sources told As-Safir newspaper on Friday that a group formed of 20 persons from the northern city of Tripoli and the North district left Lebanon to Syria via Turkey to fight alongside the Islamic State.

The majority of the young men, whose ages range between 19 and 22, are students and traveled to Turkey under the guise of tourism.

The same sources added that some sides in Tripoli are working on recruiting young men to join Jihadist fronts in Syria.

Arrest of al-Shishai’s wife stirs panic among al-Nusra Front members

Sources told As-Safir newspaper on Friday that the arrest of the wife of the al-Nusra Front official Anas Sharkas, aka Abu Ali al-Shishani along with her brother Rakan in the Zgharta area stirred panic among the terrorist group.

The same sources added that al-Shishani called one of the members of the Muslim Scholars Association, urging him to ensure the release of his wife.

According to the daily, al-Shishani vowed to avenge the arrest of his wife.