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 on Sunday that media figure
May Chidiac and the families of martyrs Samir Kassir and Georges Hawi are
planning to submit a memorandum calling on the investigative judge to ask the
ISF’s Information Division to expand investigations into the adhesive
explosives seized in the possession of former Minister Michel Samaha who was arrested
on Thursday. Chidiac and the two families were informed that the seized
explosives were very similar to those used in the assassinations of Kassir,
Hawi and the attempt to assassinate Chidiac.
Former PM and head of the Future parliamentary bloc, Fouad Siniora is expected to meet with President Michel Sleiman on Monday to inform him of the bloc’s decision regarding the participation in Thursday’s national dialogue session. Sleiman called for this session after the postponement of the previous one due to its boycott by March 14.
In this regard, well-informed sources told
Al Hayat Daily on Sunday that efforts are being exerted with the Future bloc and the March 14 coalition in order for them to attend the meeting and go back on their decision to boycott the dialogue “given that Sleiman will give his perception of the defense strategy and the issue of weapons”.
The sources said that there is a divide within the March 14 coalition as some parties are adamant to continue boycotting the dialogue “since Hezbollah assured that it will not give up its weapons”, while others consider that Sleiman’s call must be heeded given the stances he took confirming the state’s authority on the defense strategy and the issue of weapons.
Well-informed sources told
An-Nahar Daily on Sunday that the issuance of the arrest warrant by the military
court in the case of former Minister Michel Samaha spurred a frenzy both on the
legal and diplomatic scenes.
The sources told the newspaper
that while the state is still discussing the different possibilities of the
case’s legal course, March 14 seems to want to call for its referral to the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) or to the Judicial Council at a time when
the general tendency is to restrict this case to the military court.
- Hamadeh for summoning Syrian ambassador and taking him back
to his country with the explosives
MP Marwan Hamadeh called on Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour on
Sunday to draw the attention of his Arab counterparts at the Jeddah Meeting to the
“aggression that Lebanon was subject to and that almost undermined civil peace”.
Hamadeh told
An-Nahar Daily that the time has come to summon
the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon and take him back to his country along with
the explosives, and to recall the Lebanese ambassador to Syria in the wait of a
new democratic Syrian regime that would be peaceful towards Lebanon.
The New York Times Daily reported late Saturday that the U.S.
and Egypt are trying to draw a new security plan to address the deteriorating
situation in the Sinai Peninsula where 16 Egyptian soldiers were killed a week
ago in an ambush set near the borders of Gaza and Israel.
The Daily quoted unnamed officials as saying that the
Pentagon is discussing with Egyptians a series of options aimed at sharing intelligence
with the Egyptian military and police in Sinai.
The newspaper added that this intelligence includes
intercepts of cellphone or radio conversations as well as aerial pictures
taken from aircrafts, drones and satellites.
The Daily pointed out that talks are taking place with
military men and intelligence officers as well as with the government of
President Mohammad Mursi.