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.
Al Liwaa
newspaper reported Friday that Prime Minister Najib Mikati voiced his relief Friday as
to the outcome of the ministerial committee and to the atmosphere of cordiality
among its members. He said that the electricity-generating ships agreement turned
out to be what he wanted it to be in the first place: a transparent bidding
process with companies with a price decrease.
Mikati hoped that the cabinet ratifies this
agreement during its next session, adding that if everything goes as planned and
if the Turkish company commits to the agreement, that the first power-generating
ship should arrive in Lebanon as of early August.
Al Akhbar
daily reported Friday that one of the American-Lebanese student associations has decided
since 2008 to gather Lebanese students from different states and cities to provide
them each year with recruitment and volunteering sessions under the slogan “we
seek to provide jobs to Lebanese students in the U.S.”.
The newspaper
added that a group of Lebanese students and holders of the American nationality
with Lebanese origins joined the “Lebanese Collegiate Network” (LCN) non-profit
organization. This network is run by Lebanese managers and aims at gathering
the largest number of student clubs that include Lebanese from different
American universities in order to unify them in one single network.
The daily
added that the CIA was classified as the “Gold Sponsor” and main funder of the
network in 2012, besides other sponsors.
The CIA’s years-long
financial contribution to the student network might be considered as an
explicit violation to the agency’s working laws within the U.S. territory. This
law allows the agency to spend money on direct recruitment activities in the U.S.,
but not to support American organizations including Americans inside the U.S.
National Struggle Front leader MP Walid Jumblatt told
Al Akhbar daily on Friday that his ministers will not leave the government if
the issue of the electoral law based on proportionality is put on the table. Jumblatt
denied having told PM Najib Mikati or any political figure that his ministers
want to resign from the government.
A Lebanese security source told
As Safir newspaper
Friday that if the assumption of the attempt to assassinate Lebanese Forces leader
Samir Geagea is correct, it means that very advanced monitoring was connected to an
operations room for a very long time to examine Geagea’s movements.
The source said that one person alone cannot carry a
12.7 mm or a 14.5 mm machine gun; transferring this type of guns requires a
vehicle and cannot be transferred on foot. The source added that there was a
need for electric current and a laptop connected to the above-mentioned
machine gun. “The perpetrators probably used charged batteries.”
The source wondered how such an operation can be
carried out from a mountain, a building or a house without drawing the
attention of the neighborhood, security forces or Geagea’s guards and neighbors.
The source said that Geagea can ask security and legal
authorities to resort to satellite images of Meerab and its surroundings (at
the disposal of Americans). Through this image, the car’s plate number and the
faces of the perpetrators can be identified. This region is also supposed to be
monitored by external parties that are concerned with Geagea’s
security.
The source
described this operation as a “highly professional planned assassination
attempt”.