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
An-Nahar newspaper the General Prosecutor Judge Said Mirza told several MPs during the Parliamentarian Human Rights committee on Monday that the issue of kidnapping the Jassem brothers will remain pending now as the family dropped the charges.
Asked about the causes for General Ashraf Rifi not attending the committee meeting, the head of the committee MP Michel Moussa said “We sent an invitation to the Minister of Interior Marwan Charbel as we have been doing in all previous meetings where Rifi represented the minister; during the last meeting Charbel decided to attend personally”.
“I don’t know if there are any hidden causes for Rifi not attending, this is an internal issue in the Ministry of Interior”.
On the other hand, Minister Charbel mentioned that there are no hidden aspects for that issue, adding that whenever the Minister cannot attend the meeting someone in the ministry will represent him.
According to
An-Nahar the Minister of Labor Charbel Nahas sent last Thursday his comments on the wage adjustment to the Shura Council.
“The Council will discuss my comments and will issue a decree which will require the signatures of the Minister of Labor, the Minister of Finance, MP Najib Mikati and President Michel Sleiman in order to be applied”,
An-Nahar quoted Charbel as saying.
The head of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers Ghassan Ghosn told
An-Nahar that the Cabinet based its decisions on law number 36/67, adding that from a jurisdictional point of view the Shura council should apply the same law in any expected decree.
Ghosn told the newspaper than any decree issued on behalf of the Shura Council does not imply any binding decision on the Cabinet as only the government has the right to draw an economic strategy, stressing that the CGTL will not back down unless all demands are met. .
Western diplomatic sources told
An-Nahar newspaper that the security in Lebanon is at threat amid the ongoing situation in Syria, warning the Lebanese Government on the constant Syrian breaches and infiltrations on the northern border.
The sources said that Syria is trying to ignite the Lebanese scene to drift the international community’s attention, adding that “terrorist” groups might attack UNIFIL contingents in South Lebanon as internal political tensions will rise.
In this regard, An-Nahar mentioned that some members of fundamentalist groups and armed organizations infiltrated to the South especially to the Palestinian refugee camps and might lead to a similar clash as the Nahr Al-Bared clashes between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Fateh Al-Islam group in North Lebanon.
Sources close to the American Embassy in Damascus told
As-Safir newspaper that what has been written and said about the American ambassador to Syria Robert Ford aimed to target his credibility and personal image as he has been accused of commanding the “Death Squads” in the American Army when he was serving in Iraq.
The sources added that, upon these accusations, the American administration thought that it was safer for Ford to temporarily leave Syria, adding that he is still the ambassador and the head of the American diplomatic delegation to Syria.
According to
Al-Liwaa newspaper the Deputy Secretary of State of the United States in charge of the Near Eastern Affairs Jacob Wells arrived to Beirut on Monday night from Amman without prior notice or revealing the purpose of his visit or his meetings.