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.
Sources close to
March 14 announced that even if this coalition preferred not to comment
immediately on the position of President Michel Sleiman, it is not showing any
sign of enthusiasm in responding to his invitation based on its stance to boycott
any political or parliamentary session where the government is present.
The sources told the Kuwaiti
Al-Rai newspaper on Wednesday that March 14 members will resume their
consultations to take a new stance on Sleiman’s call for dialogue. “The stance
will probably stay the same; the coalition will express full respect and appreciation
to Sleiman’s role but will remain attached to its decision to boycott the
government,” the sources said.
The sources
pointed out that the call for toppling the government is no longer negotiable
especially amid the deteriorating economic and social situation and the
approach adopted by March 8 which is, according to the opposition, trying to thwart
the parliamentary elections due next spring in order to keep their political
control over the country.
A Lebanese child was killed on Tuesday by a
bullet fired from Syria while the bus he was on was passing by the Lebanese-Syrian
border.
Field sources told
Acharq al-Awsat Daily that
10-year-old Khaled al-Hojeiri who hails from Bekaa’s region of Machari
al-Kaa was traveling in a small passenger bus driven by his father and heading
towards the Syrian territory when it was targeted by bullets fired from the
Syrian side. The sources predicted that the shooting came from Syrian border
guards.
The sources said that the child was shot in a
border region along the Lebanese-Syrian border, a region located near an
illegitimate crossing between Lebanon and Syria to the side of Machari al-Kaa.
The child was rushed to a hospital in the Bekaa where he immediately passed
away.
An official at the U.S. State Department
denied the Department’s knowledge of the whereabouts of the Syrian Foreign
Ministry’s spokesperson Jihad Makdissi who has been absconded since the
beginning of the month following reports of his defection from the Syrian
regime. The official also stressed that the Department has no idea if Makdissi
arrived to the U.S. or not.
The official told
Acharq al-Awsat Daily on
Wednesday that he cannot deny nor confirm news reports stipulating that Makdissi
is in the U.S. upon the arrangement of the CIA. He also refused to talk about
any role played by the CIA.
The Guardian had also reported yesterday that the CIA
refused to answer its questions on Makdissi.
The State Department official said “the most
important thing is that the supporters of Assad’s regime are leaving him one
after another,” adding that U.S. officials are always pleased to hear such news
and expect more "escapes" and resignations from Assad’s circle.
Makdissi is considered as one of the most
prominent officials in President Assad’s inner circle given his direct contact
with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and former Information Minister Adnan
Mahmoud who was later appointed Syrian ambassador to Iran. These contacts gave
him access to an array of secrets and sensitive files.
Diplomatic
sources close to Syria expected Russia and the United States to reach an
agreement on the transitional phase in Syria before the end of February.
According to the sources, this would be a prelude to the return to the U.N.
Security Council as an “international umbrella for a solution which would
guarantee a new phase in Syria and avoid further bloodshed and anarchy.”
The sources told the Kuwaiti
Al Rai newspaper on Wednesday that Russia is no longer attached to
President Bashar Assad as a part of the transitional phase, but wants to agree
with the Americans on a solid solution that would be accepted by the region’s influential states, including all Syrian components.
The sources said
that Russia and the United States are currently discussing the structure of the
phase of transition to guarantee that Syria does not degenerate into anarchy. “Basically,
talks are centered on finding an alternative for Assad come February.”
The sources
concluded that the Syrian opposition coalition failed to prove itself as an
alternative, pointing out that Americans and Russians are discussing the
transitional phase in the finest details to agree on a transition government which
would represent all of the Syrian components and enjoy the support of the U.N.
Security Council.
Syrian Daily
Al Watan Al Souriya reported Wednesday that units from
the Syrian Arab Army continued yesterday its chase of armed groups, causing the
death and injury of many in their ranks in Damascus Reef. Meanwhile, clashes
resumed in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria after the return of
gunmen.
Civil sources told the Daily that the Yarmouk camp is
witnessing daily clashes between Palestinian popular committees and gunmen who
reentered it after having withdrawn to its outskirts. These renewed clashes led
to a second batch of displaced people.
From Aleppo, sources stressed that al-Qaeda affiliated-Al-Nusra
Front has started a "cleansing campaign" which has led to the death and arrest of
dozens of gunmen who are affiliated to the rest of the armed groups in the city’s
neighborhoods, in an attempt to extend its absolute control and thus declare
its own Islamic Empire.