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.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati told
As-Safir Daily on Saturday
that dialogue among the Lebanese is always required, adding that the
alternative to dialogue would be the recourse to the streets.
Mikati expected that the governmental performance will
improve in the next period, adding “we took a cautionary position that the
government will not be able to operate in the current atmosphere”.
Asked on the target of this cautionary position, Mikati said “the
most important thing is that we sent the message and it reached the concerned
parties”.
A well-informed source revealed that during the last Geneva
conference on Syria, a Russian-American settlement was reached and it has been
agreed to start implementing it according to a formula that balances the demands
of the opposition and the state’s authority represented by the current Syrian
leadership.
The source told
As-Safir Daily on Saturday that while the
Geneva conference was convened to discuss the Syrian crisis, another meeting was
being held in a closed room between intelligence leaders from Russia, China,
the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany. During this meeting, Russia and China
were informed by their counterparts that Washington and the EU are committed to
establishing a civil regime in Syria, “after the resignation of President
Bashar Assad”, reassuring all the Syrian society’s components, especially
Alawites.
The source said that the situation in Syria is heading
towards more armed confrontations in light of the last attacks against the
regime’s top figures and the concentration of armed operations in Damascus. The
source warned of a possible civil war that might spread from Syria to Lebanon,
Jordan and Turkey, with the risk of causing a “destructive regional war.”
Minister of
Tourism Fadi Abboud told
As-Safir Daily on Saturday that Beirut, the Bekaa,
Kesrouan, Bhamdoun, Aley, Broummana and most of Mount Lebanon’s touristic
institutions are witnessing an increase in tourists influx. Abboud said that
the inflow of Syrian tourists, mainly Damascus residents, increased by 150%
compared to 2011.
Abboud
explained that reservations in Beirut’s 4stars hotels hit 100% and those in
5stars hotels reached 70%, compared to 60% at the beginning of the month of
Ramadan last year. The increasing occupancy rates in Beirut hotels automatically led to the increase of
hotel occupancy in other regions and mountainous areas where it went from 20 to
60% in the past few weeks.
Abboud
revealed that, in coordination with touristic institutions, there are special
hotel rates for Syrians, given the unstable situation in their country. He
added that the rate for a 4stars hotel room outside the capital went down to 40
or 50% per night before the situation in Damascus worsened, given the high
supply and falling demand.
Al-Akhbar Daily reported on Saturday that hours after Sidon’s
officials described Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir as a “coward”, he became the target
of a complaint filed by two of Sidon’s most prestigious families who were
beaten by al-Assir himself and his companions. In details, the Sheikh’s partisans
were distributing flyers to passing cars on the western side of the seaside
road towards Beirut. When two young men refused to take the flyer, they were
beaten by al-Assir’s partisans. After the unexpected assault, the two men
rushed to file a complaint against him.
According to the same newspaper, this is not the first
incident of its kind; in fact, in the past few days, al-Assir’s supporters
provoked Sidon’s citizens many times as if they were “creating a dispute”.
However, according to the Daily, Sidon’s officials and movements are still
committed to self-restraint and are avoiding quarrels.
Sources from the General
Security told
Al Joumhouria Daily on Saturday that between 6 am and 6 pm on
Friday, 3360 Syrians entered Lebanon and 1400 left it through the Masnaa Border
Crossing. These numbers are similar to the numbers registered at the crossing last
Friday, which means that the influx of Syrian displaced is stable every
weekend.
On another note,
well-informed sources announced that some of the Syrian displaced who entered
Lebanon in the hours that followed the bombing of the Civil Security
headquarters in Damascus did not accept living in public schools, “given that
their social status allows them to stay in hotels or to rent houses”.
According to the same newspaper,
a number of Syrian families coming from the Syrian coastal regions arrived in the
ports of Jounieh and Dbayeh on huge yachts, helped by Lebanese authorities that
facilitated their entrance.