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.
Nizam Mgheit, brother of Ibrahim Mgheit, one of the abducted soldiers, declared that all the information available with the families of the hostages indicate that the negotiations conducted by Sheikh Mustafa al-Hujeiri with al-Nusra Front, and by Arsal’s Mayor Ahmad al-Fliti with the Islamic State have been halted.
In a statement to Asharq al-Awsat daily, Mgheit noted that the families will hold a meeting soon in order to define the new measures to be taken amid a lack of cooperation with the state’s apparatuses, stressing that they will escalate starting mid-March should the situation remain the same.
“There are a thousand ways to escalate other than blocking roads, and we are ready to implement them since three months of patience and silence were not enough to reach any progress,” he added.
Diplomatic sources in Paris revealed that US Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a message to the Bishop of Beirut Boulos Matar during their meeting in the French capital, whereby he reassured Maronite Patriarch Beshara Boutros Rai “that Washington is optimistic that the election of a new president in Lebanon will take place over the upcoming months, after reaching a nuclear deal with Iran.”
In this context, al-Mustaqbal daily quoted the same sources as saying that Kerry explained to Bishop Matar that US President Barack Obama is insisting on closing the nuclear deal with Teheran, stressing that it serves the interests of both the United States and the region of the Middle East.
According to the sources, Kerry confirmed that Saudi Arabia has been informed of the course of the nuclear negotiations and the details of the deal sought by the US.