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.
President Michel Sleiman told
An-Nahar daily
on Saturday that he agreed with Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun on
the adoption of an appointment mechanism. He said that this was his request
from the beginning, adding that Aoun did not see anything wrong with it. He
said that personally, he wanted to avoid injustice towards those who have no
political cover and have the competence and eligibility to assume certain
positions.
On linking the project of extending the
retirement age for the Army Commander and those above the rank of brigadier to
the presidential battle, the president denied having an extension project.
“Forget the extension; there will be no
extension for the presidency, the parliament or any other institution; we want
to solidify our democratic regime that is based on the devolution of power no
matter the circumstances”, Sleiman said.
As for the Lebanese people dealing with the
Syrian crisis, Sleiman said “the lesson lies in the non-interference of the
Lebanese in the Syrian crisis; they do not fuel the fire as long as they cannot
extinguish it”.
On Lebanon’s participation in the Arab summit
expected to be held in Baghdad on March 29th, the president stressed
that when Lebanon decides to attend or not to attend, it won’t be related to
anyone. “Everyone must be present for it is called the Arab League”.
An-Nahar daily quoted high-level
international diplomatic sources Saturday as saying that the U.N.-Arab League
envoy Kofi Annan expects the UNSC members to speak unanimously next week to
support his efforts to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis.
Sources said that the briefing delivered by
Annan to the UNSC members, starting with a 10-minute intervention followed by a
Q&A session between him and the members for one hour and a half. This
intervention left a significant impact as all members announced their full
support for the complicated diplomatic task undertaken by Annan to find a
solution, including the Russian representative Vitaly Churkin
and Chinese representative Li Baodong.
Annan said that in his briefing,
Annan said that the Syrian government’s response to his six proposals is still
“disappointing”.
According to
An-Nahar who got a copy from the
Syrian response to Anan’s proposals, the copy includes six points; the first
one is “we are ready to cooperate with you as the U.N. Secretary General’s
special envoy”. As for the second one, it has six items regarding the three
Syrian conditions (arms in exchange for amnesty, non-armament of the
opposition, non-funding of the opposition) to discuss the independent
monitoring mechanism.
The sixth point stipulates cooperating with
the Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator,
Valerie Amos, and providing a temporary humanitarian ceasefire (two hours a
day). The fourth point determines the way prisoners should be treated. As for
the fifth, it agrees to allow media outlets access to Syria, and the sixth
stipulates that Syria agrees to all of the above as long as they are executed
in accordance with the laws in force.
Al-Liwaa
newspaper quoted political sources Saturday as saying that the tension between
the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement remains high after Maronite
Patriarch Beshara Rai’s statements on Hezbollah’s arms and Syria.
The vice-president of the Lebanese Forces Georges Adwan told Al-Liwaa
that the party changed its approach in dealing with the Patriarch’s positions
on Hezbollah’s arms and the Syrian crisis.
“We will have a clear response to every position that violates Bkerke’s
principles”, he added.
As-Safir daily reported on Saturday that the Future
bloc asked an employee in the Islamic Awqaf and another employee in Dar Al Fatwa
to file a lawsuit on their behalf against Ragheb Qabbani, son of the Mufti of
the Republic, Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani on charges of theft and fraud.
When the employees refused to do so, the bloc resorted to five clergymen from
Akkar who are close to the former Mufti of Akkar, Osama Rifai, who in turn
filed a lawsuit against Ragheb Qabbani and another employee on charges of
embezzlement of Islamic Awqaf funds and money laundering.
Observers assured that the lawsuit filed against Ragheb
Qabbani will not affect his father, the Mufti of the Republic. They added that
the lawsuit will not affect Ragheb personally because he has a clearance from
the Awqaf, in addition to bank receipts and copies of the checks he took back
to the Awqaf upon Mufti Qabbani’s request.
Sources close to Qabbani said that this in an
intimidation method to pressure Qabbani and force him to resign given that his
dismissal is impossible according to the mechanisms stipulated by the law.
“This is utterly out of the question; Qabbani is a tenacious man who will not
resign regardless of the pressure”, they said. They warned that this could lead
to dire consequences that will backfire on the Future bloc”.
In other news, information circulated that the Mufti of the North and
Tripoli, Sheikh Malek Chaar, changed his permanent address to Beirut recently
after he received the support of Saad Hariri during his visit to France a month
ago. Chaar firmly denied this information through
As-Safir saying “this is a
rumor I am not aware of”.
Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Saturday that the U.S. Congress
issued its 20th annual report on “Terrorist assets” in the U.S. for
2011. In this report, the Congress listed an inventory of all funds belonging
to states and organizations classified as terrorist, frozen by the U.S.
government.
In the table, the Congress mentioned Hezbollah determining
the amounts of money frozen in its accounts last year. According to the report,
the sum amounted to approximately $5 million.
Member of the Free Syrian Army Walid al-Buni told
Acharq
al-Awsat daily Saturday that Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah is beginning to believe that his ally, President Bashar Assad, will
soon fall, adding that he should advise him to resign so he can leave in peace
and let his people decide their own fate.
“Let him and his ally lay down the weapons raised
against the Syrian people, while opposition arms are only light weapons in the
hands of honorable soldiers who prefer to defend themselves and their people
instead of shooting their fellow citizens”, al-Buni said.
Al-Buni added that instead of offering advice,
Nasrallah must take his weapons and partisans who are involved in crushing the
Syrian uprising and whose funerals are held in the southern suburb of Beirut,
away from Syria.