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.
An-Nahar daily reported that the third round of talks between Hezbollah and the Future Movement is expected to be held on Friday, adding that it will tackle the major political issue pertaining to the election of a new president, and the criteria required on the local scene in order to ensure the elections.
The daily also reported that member of the Future bloc MP Samir al-Jisr will not be able to take part in the third dialogue session, since he had to travel to Cairo.
Interior and Municipalities Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq described the Internal Security Forces Information Bureau’s success in arresting the individual accused of killing young man Yves Nawfal as a major achievement that opens the door for implementing the security plan in the northern Bekaa.
In a statement to an-Nahar newspaper, the minister said that fugitive Charbel Georges Khalil was arrested in Brital.
On another note, the minister told as-Safir that the negotiations conducted in the case of the abducted soldiers are ongoing, noting that they have not been affected by the security operation implemented at Roumieh prison, “since the inmates were not harmed.”
“The building to which the Islamist inmates were transferred is probably cleaner than bloc B,” he stated.
Separately, the interior minister told al-Akhbar newspaper that the measures taken in an attempt to limit the entry of Syrian refugees to Lebanon will not be annulled, explaining that these measures do not impose visa requirements, but they are only a set of rules to organize the entry of non-refugee Syrian nationals to Lebanon.
In this context, the minister said that the Director General of General Security Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim explained the measures to the Syrian authorities and they expressed their understanding.
President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer told an-Nahar daily that the Red Cross teams are known to be always present during times of crisis, conflicts and prisoner and hostage exchange operations.
In this regard, Maurer expressed the Red Cross committee’s readiness to help in the case of the abducted Lebanese troops, if it serves the interests of both parties.
Member of the Future bloc MP Ahmad Fatfat stressed that the security operation implemented in Roumieh prison had been planned for a while, “and cannot be linked to the security forces’ operations implemented in other Lebanese regions, namely in the Bekaa.”
In a statement to al-Seyassah al-Kuwaitia newspaper, Fatfat said that the security chaos in Bekaa is due to Hezbollah’s failure to lift the cover off the perpetrators.