Press Digest for Monday January 12, 2015

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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.

Justice Minister Rifi says Islamic State responsible for Tripoli’s crime

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said Sunday’s security meeting that was chaired by Prime Minister Tammam Salam aimed to follow up on the “crime” that took place in the Lebanese northern city of Tripoli.

In an interview with An-Nahar daily on Monday, Rifi said he gave his instructions to the concerned officials in the Justice Ministry in order to refer Tripoli’s crime to the Judicial Council the soonest possible.

He also denounced the double suicide attack that rocked Tripoli as “a terrorist crime par excellence,” stressing the need to spare Lebanon the repercussions of regional turmoil.

Justice Minister Rifi added that he backs Interior Minister Nouhad Mashnouq’s claim that the Islamic State militant group is responsible for Tripoli’s attack.

Speaker Berri says terrorists behind Tripoli cafe bombing aimed to sow sedition

As-Safir newspaper quoted Speaker Nabih Berri as saying to his guests that the terrorists who targeted a cafe in the northern city of Tripoli aimed to cause casualties and foment sectarian strife.

“A sectarian sedition would have led to a number of casualties much higher than the one caused by the double suicide attack,” Berri said on Monday.

Speaker Berri also praised the awareness of the Lebanese people in general and Tripoli’s residents in particular, noting that it has thwarted a plot to sow strife among citizens.

As-Safir: Security reports warn against attacks on military institution

“Reports discussed during Sunday’s ministerial-security meeting at Prime Minister Tammam Salam’s residence indicate that the Lebanese army may be targeted by a terrorist attack carried out by Nusra Front cells,” sources said on Monday.

“The aforementioned reports have prompted the military institution to raise its level of alertness,” the same sources told As-Safir daily.

They added that members of the terrorist cells are equipped with explosive belts ready for detonation, saying “the emir of the Nusra Front in Qalamoun, Abou Malek al-Talli, has ordered them to blow themselves up as soon as they are caught by the army”.

Al-Akhbar says 32 men plotting terrorist attacks in Lebanon

Al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Monday that 32 Lebanese men are plotting suicide attacks inside the Lebanese territories, noting that the security apparatuses are monitoring nearly 200 persons suspected of having links to the Nusra Front and the Islamic State.

“A new wave of bomb attacks has swept across Lebanon,” sources close to the security apparatuses said, warning against a dangerous phase the country may go through.