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.
Diplomatic
sources told
Al Joumhouria Daily on Friday that preliminary reports leaked from
Syria stipulate that the Israeli raid on Damascus Reef hit two targets at once,
the first target being mobile rocket launchers or a military convoy present
in one of the military research center’s courtyard and the second being the
center’s facilities.
Saudi
ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Osseiri said on Friday that Saudi Arabia is
sparing no effort to help displaced Syrians flocking into Lebanon by providing
them with health care, shelter, rent allowances for housing and ensuring the enrollment of
thousands of Syrian students in Lebanese schools by paying their full tuition fees.
The Kingdom also provided them with daily life needs including blankets,
heating devices, medications, and foodstuffs.
Osseiri
told
As-Safir Daily that next week, the Kingdom will provide further assistance
through two bodies: the Saudi National Campaign to Support Brothers in Syria and
the International Islamic Relief Organization.
Commenting
on the visit of PM Najib Mikati to Saudi Arabia, Osseiri said that Mikati represents
the Lebanese state upon an official invitation handed to President Michel
Sleiman to attend the third Arab Economic Forum. “He is welcome as a
representative of Lebanon,”
he said.
Osseiri
said that during his meetings with Saudi officials, Mikati did not discuss the upcoming
elections, stressing that the Kingdom is pushing towards a Lebanese consensus
to preserve civil peace. “The best solution can only be Lebanese made,
satisfactory for all the Lebanese; there is absolutely no need to import
solutions from abroad.”
- Bekaa’s Narcotics Control Bureau raided, director arrested
A security force led by a judge raided the Narcotics Control
Bureau in the Bekaa and arrested its director along with a military man on
charges of blackmailing a Qatari detainee and his Lebanese wife to collect 25,000
dollars,
Al Akhbar Daily reported on Friday.
In this regard, the newspaper pointed out that despite numerous
attempts, the Qatari embassy failed to release the Qatari national.
Al-Akhbar Daily reported Friday that a Jordanian
transportation company filed a lawsuit with the First Investigative Judge
Ghassan Oweidat against former PM Saad Hariri in person, calling on him to pay
$3 million US Dollars. According to the Prosecution, this sum is the second part of
the fees Hariri owes it in exchange for transporting passengers from Gulf countries to
Beirut in 2009.
In a related context, the Daily pointed out that the "Saudi
Oger" company owned by Hariri and some of his brothers put some of its properties
in Saudi Arabia up for sale in order to provide liquidity.
A prominent French source told
Al Hayat Daily on Friday that
Paris will be handing 20 HOT missiles over to the Lebanese Armed Forces. Accordingly, the
choppers of the LAF are due for an upgrade in order for them to become adaptable
to these missiles.
LAF Commander Jean Kahwaji who is on a visit to Paris upon
the invitation of French Chief of Staff Admiral Edouard Guillaud, is expected
to be informed of this decision today.
Former PM Saad Hariri had previously signed the contract regarding these
missiles with his French counterpart Francois Fillon, “but France froze it
after the fall of Hariri’s government.”