DAILY SCOPE: Oil Exploration Priority, Presidential Elections Back on Parliament Table
Local Editor
NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES:
ASSAFIR:
‘Ain el-Hilweh' Equation: Handing Over Wanted Individuals or Delaying Them
Rabyeh-Ain el Tineh Understanding: Oil... And Restoring Citizenship
AN-NAHAR:
Iran Warned "Israel" Through Washington
AL-AKHBAR:
Cabinet Disagrees to Raise ISF Members
THE DAILYSTAR:
MPs Set to Botch Presidential Election Again
As Lebanese newspapers issued Wednesday focus on the parliamentary session to be held today for electing a new president to the Lebanese Republic, it also kept the security file in the lime light, amid more army operations to maintain security. This takes place while progress is ongoing on the level of domestic talks and dialogues, where Hizbullah-Future talks are on the run while Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri is scheduled to receive Head of the Democratic Gathering MP Walid Jumblatt in Ain el-Tineh.
On the security level, papers reiterated that speculations loom over the location and whereabouts of the terrorist fugitive Shadi Mawlawi. As-Safir daily pointed out that the hiding place of wanted terrorist Shadi Mawlawi turned into a riddle, with contradicting information in the hands of the concerned authorities.
According to the paper, while the Army intelligence insist that Mawlawi is still in hide inside the camp, the Information Branch assures he has escaped to Arsal outskirts where he joined the Nusra front fighters.
Informed sources told as Safir newspaper that the Lebanese authorities warned the Palestinian factions that maintaining the stability of the camp requires them not to turn it into a hub for dangerous fugitives.
Such difference in information and interpretation, according to the paper, raises many questions concerning coordination between the concerned apparatuses on a battle of fate in combatting terrorism, as such contradicting information reflects no harmony at all.
For its part, al-Jomhouriya newspaper quoted a high-ranking security source as saying that Mawlawi is still in Tawari neighborhood in Ain el-Helwe camp, where he is protected by one of the major Palestinian official also wanted by justice.
The daily also has learned that a Palestinian party told officials in Ain el-Helweh that Mawlawi left the camp without identifying his destination few days, which caused ambiguity among the officials who believed that he left the camp.
On another note, al-Jomhouriya daily also cited security sources saying that ISIS will soon appoint fugitive Salafi Sheikh Ahmad Assir as the emir of Lebanon. It quoted the sources as saying that ISIS had begun planning not just for security, but also military operations in Lebanon.
They said the Islamist rebel group that controls strips of territory in Iraq and Syria was aiming to further its reach into Lebanon. In order to achieve this geographical expansion ISIS has requested support from northern Syria, the sources added.
Touching on the presidential void in Lebanon, the Daily Star pointed out that the Lebanese Parliament is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to elect a new president amid signs that the session is destined to fail like previous ones over a lack of quorum, heralding a prolonged vacuum in the country's top Christian post.
The paper quoted Ministerial sources saying that a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which wield great influence in Lebanon, held the key to breaking the 8-month-old presidential stalemate.
Wednesday's session will be the 18th abortive attempt since April to choose a successor to former President Michel Suleiman, whose six-year tenure ended on May 25.
The paper further underlined that Parliamentary sources in the March 8 and March 14 camps said that the flurry of political activity by international envoys has been replaced by internal dialogue, namely between the Future Movement and Hizbullah, which is aimed at defusing sectarian tensions, and the dialogue between the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces designed to arrange a meeting between the FPM leader Aoun and LF chief Samir Geagea to resolve the presidential crisis.
Meanwhile, a meeting of almost two hours took place between Speaker Nabih Berri and Foreign Minister Jebran Basil, in which the two reached an understanding to resolve two controversial files that had been a point of contention between Berri and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, as-Safir revealed on Wednesday.
The daily quoted informed sources as saying that the two officials discussed solutions to the controversy on oil exploration and the Lebanese nationality for expatriates. Berri and Bassil had common viewpoints on the demarcation of the southern territorial waters and the designation of blocks to start oil exploration.
The speaker has been spearheading a campaign since late last year to revive the exploration file after reiterating that "Israel" is stealing Lebanon's offshore gas.
According to as-Safir, sources said Berri and Bassil reached an understanding to "avoid procrastination and not to waste more opportunities so that to preserve Lebanon's oil resources from "Israeli" greed." The two also agreed that oil exploration would have a positive impact on all of the country's factions, said the sources.
Source: al-Ahed news
