Electricity’s Final Session, Resistance to Fail STL
On the fourth day of the rebels' entering their capital Tripoli, Moaamar Gaddafi is still the first headline of every news.
This time the ex-Colonel is not on top for his nonsense speeches nor through his dull actions, but rather through his escape as the "rat" he once named his residents as.
Gaddafi: A Tactic Escape
As rebels succeeded in capturing Gaddafi's heavily fortified Bab al-Aziziya compound, the whereabouts of Gaddafi or his family is still mysterious.
"Bab al-Aziziya is fully under our control now. Colonel Gaddafi and his sons were not there; there is nobody," Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani said from the rebel bastion of Benghazi.
Arrogantly, Gaddafi refused the new facts on ground:
"Bab al-Azizya was nothing but a heap of rubble after it was the target of 64 NATO missiles and we withdrew from it for tactical reasons," he said in a speech carried by the website of a television station headed by his son Seif al-Islam.
At the same time Gaddafi spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told the Syrian-based "Arrai" channel that more than 6,500 volunteers had arrived in Tripoli to fight for the regime and called for more.
"The volunteers can come to Libya and we will give them weapons, ammunition and training," he said.
The spokesman for the toppled leader said that the man was ready to resist the rebels for months, or even years.
"We will turn Libya into a volcano of lava and fire under the feet of the invaders and their treacherous agents," Ibrahim said.
Gov't Recognizes LNTC, Discusses Electricity
In Lebanon, the government recognized Libya's rebel National Transitional Council, which has almost taken full control of Libya and ended the 42-year reign of strongman Moammar Gaddafi, acting information minister Wael Abu Faour said after a ministerial meeting.
Briefing reporters after government's session in Beiteddine, Abu Faour said the government also decided to task Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour with discussing the case of the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr and his companions with the leaders of Libya's new government.
Meanwhile, settlement of the electricity plan, whether positive or negative, was adjourned until the Council of Ministers' session set to be held Wednesday.
The government's last meeting on electricity aroused several positions:
"National Struggle Front" Leader MP Walid Jumblatt told "as-Safir" that he "rejects the logic of the last chance, which aims to exert pressure."
"Either the Front's ministers' remarks regarding the electricity plan are taken into consideration and an agreement is concluded on clear bases, or they hold on to their reservations," Jumblatt stressed
"We will not yield to the logic of threats and blackmail whereby ‘either you act according to our wishes, or else," "as-Safir" quoted Jumblatt.
Revealing that the contacts between various ministerial parties over the past few hours reflected that efforts are being made to secure success in today's session, a minister told the daily that "the few hours prior to today's session represented a chance to hold a vast array of contacts between General Aoun and his allies, especially Hizbullah and Amal Movement, in addition to contacts with Prime Minister Najib Mikati and MP Jumblatt."
Circles close to Mikati informed "al-Akhbar" Lebanese daily that Mikati took all remarks into consideration, predicting that the plan will be adopted in Wednesday's session with reservations from pro-Jumblatt ministers and with the solidarity of Mikati and his ministers.
For his part, Energy Minister Gebran Bassil told "al-Akhbar" that "all requested clarifications have been provided in practice and no question was left unanswered. The project is thus technically over and all that remains is the political aspect."
Raad: Indictment Political, Jreissati's Legal Paper
In another Lebanese development, the Head of Loyalty to Resistance Bloc MP Mohammad Raad press conference covered the Lebanese political scene.
"The indictment spoke in the same language as "Israel" does toward the resistance, which proves that Americans and "Israelis" are partners in drafting the text," said Raad.
"That indictment is being used as a political agenda to topple the resistance and is designed to force Hizbullah into one of two options: either it distorts our image striking at the country's peace and stability, or it forces the country to succumb to the US-"Israeli" hegemony," MP stressed.
Vowing that "Hizbullah won't give in to blackmail and won't succumb to its enemies' will," Raad added that the "resistance will decide how it confronts the Special Tribunal of Lebanon."
Retired judge and Constitutional expert Salim Jreissati presented a 20-page legal study in a section of the news conference entitled "The Published Indictment: A Legal Study."
The study pointed out various loopholes in the STL's indictment.
"After six years of investigation, the investigation should have reached conclusions and direct evidence that are credible and not just interpretations of telephone calls that lack credible evidence," he told reporters.
Jreissati also questioned the intention of the STL's description of the crime as terrorism. "Where did Bellemare come by the terrorism description when he knows very well that there is no one global definition of terrorism or a unified punishment for it?" Jreissati continued.
"In addition to this, who classified Hizbullah or its military wing as a terrorist organization? Or confirmed its involvement in terrorist acts?" Jreissati said Bellemare adopted this US classification.
Source: Lebanese newspapers
