DAILY SCOPE: Berri’s Awaited Stances on Anniversary of Imam Sadr’s Absence... Waste Crisis on Finance and Budget’s Ag

Zeinab Daher / Fatima Haydar

LEBANESE DAILIES:

Newspaper Headlines:

AN-NAHAR:

Will Lebanon fall from circle of international attention?

AS-SAFIR:

Godfather of invasion and relationship with Gemayel

AL-MUSTAQBAL:

Future: President Restores correct pact

Waste between "resolution" and municipal fund

Lebanese newspapers on Wednesday are preoccupied with the awaited stances of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as he is to deliver a speech hosted by Amal Movement to celebrate the 38th anniversary of the absence of Imam Moussa al-Sadr and his two companions in Tyre.

Also, newspapers shed light on the Bourj Hammoud landfill waste crisis which is due to be resolved by the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee's second session.

Newspapers also dealt with Abu Malik al-Talli's move from Qalamoun to Damascus' Eastern Ghouta. As it talked about the dismissal of the Saudi ambassador in Lebanon from his post by his country on the background of his rapprochement with former General Michael Aoun without the Riyadh's consent.

Al-Binaa: Berri Talks Today on Anniversary of Imam Sadr's Absence

Al-Binaa newspaper noted that Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri's will be speaking today, from the city of Tyre, on the occasion of the absence of Imam Sayyed Musa Sadr and his companions.

The case of Imam Sadr will be the main issue in his speech, amid the latest developments that happened in this regard. Berry will later go further in addressing the developments happening on both local and regional levels. Besides, he will sum up the international scene.

Berri sources told "al-Binaa" that he "will not offer a new initiative in his speech, he will rather renew sticking to the initiative he proposed in the first session of national dialogue, which is composed of 7 points: electing a president, agreeing on electoral law, activating the government's role and ratifying administrative decentralization among others...

Other issues were done such as ratifying the citizenship law and supporting the army. However, there remains Berri's bundle suggested in the latest sessions, which include electing a president and the electoral and governmental law.

Hence, the Speaker will stress that the dialogue is the golden chance to agree on a solution for the crisis, especially that we are running out of time. Berri will eventually urge all political powers to be responsible enough. He will also discuss the new governmental crisis, warning all parties from the risk of harming the government's stability and work progress. Besides, he will urge them to protect the government's work, noting that nobody benefits from harming it, even the Free Patriotic Movement doesn't benefit from this amid the presidential void and parliamentary inactivity.

Relatively, the governmental paralysis affects other main institutions in the country.

The same sources reported permanent and continuous communications between Berri and all other sides to reactivate the government despite its hobbling, yet it must continue. The sources didn't expect Berri's escalation against any partner. However, they stressed that he is going to warn everybody about the danger of the current situation, advising them not to go extreme in their options because the country can no more tolerate."

An-Nahar: Finance and Budgeting Committee Assembles to Find Solution for Waste Crisis

On the trash crisis, an-Nahar sources learned that the Head of Finance and Budgeting Parliamentary Committee Ibrahim Kanaan held late series of meetings preparing for the committee's second session today, aimed at finding solution for the waste crisis at the Bourj Hammoud landfill.

He relatively visited Chief of the Phalanges Party MP Sami Gemayel, MP Michael al-Morr, Dashnak Party Secretary General MP Hagop Pakradounian, Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayeb who is assigned by the government to resume implementing the waste plan, and other concerned figures.

Kanaan told an-Nahar that Wednesday's session would be decisive, noting that all parties confessed the necessity to have a transitional period before reaching a sustainable period, in which the former would be less expensive, with better conditions, and civil society's observation to reach a radical solution of administrative decentralization.

An-Nahar also learned that lifting the waste will resume on Thursday in Baabda, Maten and Keserwan as it was issued in the governmental plan of not exceeding 1200 tons for every landfill.

Al-Akhbar: Openness to Aoun Overthrew Al-Asiri

At the level of diplomatic relations, Saudi Arabia replaced its ambassador in Beirut, Ali Awad al-Asiri and appointed Walid al-Bukhari as its acting ambassador.

Despite rumors of a Saudi decision to reduce diplomatic representation in Lebanon, sources revealed to al-Akhbar that al-Asiri's forced retirement came as a disciplinary action against his rapprochement with a Lebanese political figure, namely MP Michael Aoun, without prior coordination with Riyadh; in addition to other issues related to his relationship with the Saudi monarchy.

The sources pointed out that al-Asiri was to be granted an open-ended leave before releaving him from duty.

As-Safir: Abu Malik al-Talli from Qalamoun to Ghouta?

Sources informed As-Safir that al-Nura Front's leader in western Qalamoun, Abu Malik al-Talli had secretly moved to eastern Ghouta.

Meanwhile, the Takfiri Daesh received a painful blow with the news of the death of its second man in command Abu Muhammad al-Adnani who was one of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's companions in Aleppo.

On another level, the unprecedented developments in the Eastern Ghouta and Damascus seem to worry al-Nusra Front. The Syrian government has succeeded in imposing a settlement policy which led after the Daraya agreement to empty the capital and its surrounding from any danger or threat.

Furthermore, the ongoing conflict among the armed factions notably the "al-Rahman Corps" and "Jaysh al-Islam" was one of the factors that helped the Syrian army progress into Ghouta during the past month.

In the meantime, what increases al-Nusra Front's concern is the emerging truces between the various Takfiri factions and the Syrian Army in the most sensitive and strategic areas, remarkably the Daraya agreement.

Accordingly, al-Nusra Front decided to change the course of developments the countryside of Damascus in order to stop the deterioration and prevent the emerging truces from reaching the eastern Ghouta, which is the last stronghold of the armed factions in Damascus.

Source: al-Ahed News