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.
The Greek Orthodox
Metropolitan of Aleppo and Iskenderun, Bishop Boulos Yazigi and the Syriac
Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, Bishop Youhanna Ibrahim were kidnapped on
Monday night.
In the details, both clerics
were in Bishop Ibrahim’s car driven by his verger from a town at the Turkish
border toward the city of Aleppo, where a group of unknown assailants
intercepted them, killing their driver and kidnapping them.
In this context, the Patriarchal
secretary of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Zakka I Iwas, Bishop Matta
al-Khoury told
al-Joumhouria Daily that the Patriarchate will not take any
measure in this regard awaiting a call from the kidnappers to reveal their
intentions and demands.
Khoury stressed, Syrian Muslims
who fled their country and took refuge in Lebanon insist that they are involved in the incident, expressing their regret concerning the current
situation of the city of Homs.
On the other hand,
an-Nahar
Daily reported that preliminary information in the case indicate that the
kidnappers are a Chechen armed group, while other reports state that the abduction
may be related to the Boston explosions which took place in the United States a
week ago.
Future bloc MP Ahmad Fatfat said that the meeting of the
Parliamentary Communications Committee expected to be held today must be
decisive, noting that all the political parties are required to attend the
committee’s meeting to define their position regarding the proposal presented
by Speaker Nabih Berri.
In a statement to
as-Safir Newspaper, Fatfat pointed out
that he will present a proposal based on an amended version of Berri’s draft, stating
that he is open for negotiations and discussions.
“We are not ready to present any draft law, should the Free
Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah fail to present any proposal,” he added.
In an interview with the
Al-Liwaa newspaper, Lebanese Forces
leader Samir Geagea criticized Hezbollah's intervention in the Syrian war as he
considered that the party is destroying the Resistance, the Shiites and Lebanon.
Geagea noted that the party's involvement in the combats in
Syria will result in the transfer of the war from Syria into Lebanon, adding
"not only is this involvement a violation of the 'Baabda Declaration'
but also contradicts the notions of unity expressed during the nomination of Prime Minister-Designate
Tammam Salam.
Sources close to PM-Designate Tammam Salam reported that the
latter met on Monday night with the political adviser to Hezbollah's Secretary General
al-Hajj Hussein al-Khalil
The sources told
al-Akhbar newspaper that this meeting which
is in fact the first between the two sides, constituted an occasion to commence dialogue
between Hezbollah and Salam concerning issues related to the cabinet.
Sources close to the caretaker cabinet told
an-Nahar
newspaper that the prolongation of the parliament's term is almost definitive
whatever may be the nature of the election law that will be agreed upon
"if a new election law is agreed upon".
The sources also told the newspaper that the simplest of the
suggested laws requires at least a six month extension term for the current
parliament.
Moreover, the sources revealed that influential countries have given the concerned references negative signs that they will be
boycotting Lebanese governmental institutions on all levels in case the
parliament's term is extended for more than six months. The sources also
pointed out that the concerned bodies in the Ministry of Interior gave all
those concerned a heads up as it feared that certain local or foreign players may not be content with any electoral proposal.
Moreover, the sources passed on what the Minister of
Interior Marwan Charbel had said in this regard: "We have become accustomed to security hindrances at every electoral
process".