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.
According to
several Lebanese newspapers, President Michel Sleiman denied on Saturday having
received a phone call from Syrian President Bashar Assad in regards to the
arrest of former Minister Michel Samaha, stressing that he is still waiting for
that phone call and that his relation with Assad is cordial and exposed.
Sleiman hoped that no Syrian official party is behind these explosives and that
individuals acted without an official central decision.
“What concerns
me in this issue are the explosives, and I said that during the cabinet session”,
Sleiman told a delegation from the Alumni Association of Faculty of Information and
Documentation.
“I saw the quantity of explosives with my own eyes and it’s terrifying”,
he said
On the governmental situation, the president stressed that
the government’s fate is subject to the rules of democracy, adding “I don’t owe
anyone for my arrival to the presidency and I support neither March 8 nor March
14”.
Sources close to PM Najib Mikati told
Al-Akhbar Daily on
Saturday that the latter’s meeting with House Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh
revolved around the ongoing contacts with the Turkish government regarding the
Lebanese abductees in Aleppo and the 2 Turkish citizens kidnapped by “the
military wing of the Mokdad Clan”.
The sources pointed out that Mikati briefed Berri on the
content of these phone calls, adding that they will be pursued today with
Turkish officials.
The sources said that Mikati conveyed to Berri the atmosphere
and the results of the last dialogue session held at the Beiteddine Palace.
In parallel, sources close to Berri stressed that the
government’s performance was among the main topics tackled by the House Speaker
during his meeting with Mikati, adding “Berri voiced his astonishment and displeasure
with the situation of the current government that “seems as if it is plotting
against itself after failing to turn its numerous reactivation plans into
action.
Al-Akhbar Daily reported Saturday that National Struggle
Front leader MP Walid Jumblatt received a letter from Saudi Arabia informing
him that the Saudi King will be receiving him after Eid al-Fitr and before the
end of this month.
Al-Mustaqbal
Daily quoted sources from the Syrian revolution as saying that the Syrian Vice
President Farouk al-Sharaa has defected from the regime of Bashar Assad and is
now safe outside Syria.
The sources
explained Saturday that al-Sharaa moved to Deraa three days ago accompanied by
three brigadier-generals from the army.
The “Ruwwad”
website had reported overnight that Sharaa left Syria and is now in a safe
place.
Interior
Minister Marwan Charbel told
An-Nahar Daily on Saturday that he will visit
Turkey today for the second time to follow up on the case of the Lebanese
abductees. Charbel stressed that the Turkish authorities want to keep all the
efforts in this regard away from the media.
“20 days
ago, the Ministry of Interior has sent 20 officers to Ankara where they spent a
couple of days to follow up on the efforts”, Charbel said.
On security
measures related to the airport road, Charbel told the Daily that they are now
in the custody of security apparatuses and the army, adding “they include
checkpoints and patrols between the airport’s bridge and its vicinity”.
In this
regard, the Daily reported that in addition to these measures, the presidency’s
departments held contacts in preparation to form the delegation that was
decided to be formed during the last dialogue session and that is expected to contact
influential countries that could have the power to release the Lebanese
kidnapped.
According to
sources close to the Beiteddine Palace, President Michel Sleiman called on French
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius during their meeting, to contact Turkish
officials to help release the Lebanese abductees in Syria.