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 daily the Minister of Finance Mohammad Safadi said that there was no problem regarding the spending of an additional 8.9 trillion LBP on salary raises as they will be part of a series of loans from the ministry.
Safadi told the newspaper that the delay in paying the salaries goes back to technical reasons and not financial, stressing that the money and the methods are available for all legal obligations. “I couldn’t agree on the 2012 draft budget before discussing the 8.9 trillion LBP and I call on the parliament to make the right choice”, the daily quoted Safadi as saying.
“I included the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s funding in the 2012 draft budget, the government will have to decide and I hope the decision will make everyone happy”
According to
An-Nahar daily the Former Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam said that the fate of Lebanon is linked to the fate of Syria, stressing that if the regime falls in Syria, Lebanon will be freed.
Khaddam told
An-Nahar that Lebanon is today occupied by Iran, warning that if the current regime in Syria will remain then the Syrian occupation will keep ruling in Lebanon.
Khaddam added that the state is completely absent in Lebanon today as everything is controlled by Hezbollah, pointing out that even the President Michel Sleiman, the general commander of the Lebanese Army, PM Najib Mikati and all state institutions take their orders from Hezbollah.
Khaddam ruled out the possibility of a civil war in Syria, saying that what is going on in Syria today is not a civil war but freedom fighters fighting against the oppressing regime of Bashar al Assad.
According to
Al-Mustaqbal newspaper, Future Bloc member MP Ahmad Fatfat said that the current government exceeded the spending ceiling that it had previously set by the draft budget of 2005. Fatfat added that until now Mikati’s government has spent more than $6 billion, while former PM Seniora spent $11 billion in 4 years.
Fatfat revealed that the meeting held between former PM Seniora, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Najib Mikati after the legislative session last Wednesday came to address the legalization of all expenses away from any form of extortion.
Asked about the security threats that he is personally facing, Fatfat told
Al-Mustaqbal that Hezbollah is fully responsible for any acts against him, adding that the sanctions mentioned by the former US ambassador to Lebanon Jeffery Feltman are no more than diplomatic boycotts.
According to
An-Nahar daily, Nabil Halabi, the head of the Lebanese Institute for Democracy and Human Rights said that Syrian opposition’s members in Lebanon have been encountering a series of attacks from several political parties, the latest being the Syrian citizen Ammar Omar Diab who was arrested by Hezbollah while visiting his family in Dahia.
Halabi added that Diab was released two days after long hours of investigation and beaten several times by Hezbollah members, pointing out that even when Diab decided to go back to Saudi Arabia where he used to work he was arrested by the Lebanese Customs at the airport for investigation.
“He was transferred to the Military court and they filed ridiculous charges against him accusing him of weapon smuggling and dealing and the same scenario happened with the Syrian citizen Mohammad Shaker Shallah”, Halabi told the newspaper.