DAILY SCOPE: Lebanon Bids Farewell to Martyrs, Battle With Terror Endless

Local Editor

NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES:

ASSAFIR:

Rifi against "Detention of women and children" ...Cabinet Gathers its Contradictions
Treasure Dulaimi: Security Secrets and Cross-Border Contacts

AN-NAHAR:

Qahwaji to An-Nahar: We Will Defeat Them No Matter What Sacrifices Are, Evidences on Baghdadi's X-wife

AL-AKHBAR:

Hariri Declares: Nader TO Attend Dialogue Without Seniora
Al-Mashnouq: Official Negotiations Through Gen. Ibrahim or Minister Abou Faour Only

AL-MUSTAQBAL:

Qahwaji to al-Mustaqbal: We Chase Terrorists, We Will Not Retreat

THE DAILYSTAR:

Army Ready to Confront Militants

Lebanon, for the second day remains under the shock of the ambush in which terrorist killed 6 Lebanese army soldiers and injured another 7 in Baalbeck outskirts.

Grief and pain gripped residents in the north and Bekaa Valley as the soldiers were laid to rest in their hometowns.

Another martyr joined the 6, during the dismantling of a bomb in Arsal outskirts on Wednesday. The Army [LA] said that Adjutant Mahmoud Noureddine was killed and two other soldiers wounded as they approached a bomb to dismantle it on the outskirts of Arsal.

As-Safir newspaper wrote on Wednesday "Lebanon remains under tremor of the martyrdom of six soldiers who were killed in an ambush in Ras Baalbeck outskirts on Monday. They were laid to rest in peace on Tuesday, while another martyr joined them as he was killed while dismantling a bomb in Arsal outskirts. The repetitive targeting of the Lebanese army soldiers through ambushes or bombs in Arsal and Ras Baalbeck outskirts requires looking for a new strategy for confrontation, which allows the military institution to control the battle."

Sources related to the abducted soldiers issue told as-Safir that the Lebanese army should play the card of Dualimi [Baghdadi's arrested wife] well in the swap deal.

The paper also reassured that Saja Dualimi is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's former wife, and Hajar, arrested along with her mother is his daughter. The army, according to the paper, had conducted DNA tests and compared them to the DNA that was taken from the Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi when he was arrested in Baghdad in 2004.

As for Ashraf Rifi, Minister of Justice, the paper revealed that he slammed the arrest of Dulaimi and her children, and stressed he is against the arrest or involvement of children and women no matter who they were.

Most remarkable, according to as-Safir is that Dualimi seemed to be of more importance to al-Nusra front especially that they had insisted and stressed she should be released from Syrian jails during the Maaloula nuns swap deal.

Meanwhile, al-Akhbar newspaper said, according to expectations, that "the Future party and Hizbullah will start preparing for dialogue on Wednesday, without any involvement of head of the Future Bloc Fouad Seniora. Saad Hariri took the decision of keeping Fouad Seniora outside the dialogue, with Nader Hariri representing the bloc. "

On a related note, al-Akhbar newspaper added that "the ambush set by the terrorists is not a military achievement, but rather a normal targeting to a patrol," adding that the Lebanese government should know how to invest the achievements of the Lebanese army in its battle against the terrorist groups.

Meanwhile, the Daily Star quoted a senior military source that "The LA is in "good situation" and ready to confront terrorist groups on the frontier with Syria."

One day after six soldiers were slain in an ambush by extremist militants on the northeastern border. The source's remarks also came hours after a seventh soldier was killed and two others wounded while trying to dismantle a bomb on the outskirts of Arsal.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said that the LA had its own plan to confront the militants holed up in the northeastern mountainous region, describing the military's situation as "good." "We are ready, but you know it is difficult to know of an ambush ahead of time," the source said.

Security sources told The Daily Star that the LA raided the site of Tuesday's attack and arrested more than 10 militants who were said to be of Lebanese and Syrian nationalities. But the source denied that the military had made any arrests.

Head of the Lebanese Army, Jean Qahwaji, told an-Nahar newspaper "Our battle with terror and the terrorists is an open one, we expect it to be a war of attrition, especially as the army advances in the deep and far outskirts." But he iterated that the army will continue with more strikes. Also, in remark to the arrest of Daesh leader's wife, Saja Dualimi, Qahwaji said the army intelligence had been surveying her movement for the past two months with the purpose of assuring her identity, adding that she was arrested two weeks ago.

Source: al-Ahed news