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.
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told
As-Safir Daily on
Thursday that the Turkish state is making necessary arrangements to deal with
the case of Lebanese abductees in Syria, adding that Turks are adopting the
right approach. “After my last meeting with them, I was convinced that this approach
will be fruitful”, he said.
“They may have taken slow steps sometimes, but these steps
were in the right direction”, he said, denying that the release of the Turkish
abductee was based on a pre-agreed deal. Charbel said that the Lebanese state made
a goodwill gesture and fulfilled its duty by releasing the Syrian abductees
without conditions or a price. “In return, the Turkish state will not accept that
any Lebanese remain kidnapped in Syria”, he said.
“I am waiting for Turkey to return the favor given that what
we did had a very positive impact on the Turkish officials; they are honest in
their efforts to put an end to this case”, Charbel said stressing that if the
Lebanese abductees were in Turkey, they would have been released right away.
As-Safir Daily reported on Thursday that the European Union’s determination
not to place Hezbollah on its list of terrorist organizations despite American
and Israeli pressure, spurred frenzy.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu had recently
urged the EU to recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist group. Some consider that we
must not anger the party at the time being given “the moderate role it is
currently playing to maintain stability in Lebanon and given that there are no
proofs of its military intervention in Syria.”
Meanwhile, other parties considered that the stance of the EU
that separates between the party’s political and military wings “is pure
fiction”, and according to the New York Times, the fact that the EU is
discussing the possibility of listing Hezbollah as a terrorist group is
worrisome and threatens the stability of Lebanon that “has managed to disassociate
itself from the Syrian civil war for 18 months now.”
The New York Times stressed that the party played a tangible
role to preserve stability in Lebanon; “it endorsed the political consensus and
called for self-restraint, keeping its militants away from the streets despite
the armament of other groups and despite its alliance with President Assad. The
Daily added that nothing proves that the party has sent weapons or fighters to
support the Syrian regime.
- Recordings of Samaha-Sayyed dialogue do not include
anything about explosives
An-Nahar Daily reported on Thursday that Military Prosecutor
Judge Saqr Saqr called on the ISF’s Information Division to provide him with
the identity of all those whose names are included in the investigation file of
former Minister Michel Samaha in order to gather information and send them to Lebanese Military
Investigative Judge who is in charge of interrogations .
In this regard, well-informed sources told the Daily that
the recording that includes the dialogue between Samaha and Major General Jamil
Sayyed has been submitted to the Public Prosecution five days ago.
The sources revealed that the recording does not include
anything about the explosives Samaha was transporting in his car; however, other
recordings from Samaha’s mobile phone are currently being unloaded and include conversations
he had with Sayyed.
The
spokesperson for the Free Syrian Army’s Supreme Military Council Louay Mokdad told
Acharq al-Awsat Daily on Thursday that the case of the Lebanese abductees will take
a positive turn in the next few hours, adding that a first batch of the
Lebanese abductees may be released. Louay said that the Turkish government is exerting
serious efforts in this regard, “so is former Prime Minister Saad Hariri”.
Mokdad
reiterated that the Lebanese abductee Hassan Mokdad is not in the custody of
the Free Syrian Army, calling on his relatives in Lebanon to abduct the Syrian ambassador
to Lebanon to swap him with Hassan Mokdad who is confirmed to be in the custody
of the Syrian regime.
For his
part, Sheikh Bilal Dokmak stressed that the Lebanese abductees are currently in
Syria, particularly on the Syrian-Turkish border; “they are being transferred from
one place to another depending on the circumstances”, he said.