DAILY SCOPE: Aoun Ready to Face Geagea

Local Editor

NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES:

AN-NAHAR:

Vacuum for 15th Time, on Eve of Independence Day

ASSAFIR:

Aoun Ready to Face off With Geagea

Kidnapped Soldiers Issue: Positive Beginnings from Syria

AL-AKHBAR:

Pursuing, Closing 222 Stores, Restaurants, Beauty Shops and Water Companies

THE GUARDIAN: 

French "ISIS" Fighters Filmed Burning Passports and Calling for Terror at Home

Also, the papers tackled the file of the abducted soldiers, especially the moves of General Ibrahim Abbas in this regard, where papers assured there exists a Syrian desire to cooperate with Lebanon on this level. On another note, the nuclear file and the Iran-P5+1 negotiations have made headlines as well. 

Starting with as-Safir, the newspaper wrote "Lebanon remains without a president for the 180th day," adding "the [parliamentary] 15th session designated to elect a new president face the same fate of all previous sessions, yet House Speaker Nabih Berri kept assuring there is a positive atmosphere concerning the issue.

For his part, Aoun had said in an interview with MTV that if the blocs would vote for him or Geagea exclusively, then he would be ready to participate in the Parliamentary session. Aoun, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, also demanded that rival parliamentary blocs pledge that there would be no deal behind the scenes over the presidential election as a condition to challenge Geagea over the country's top Christian post.

In this regard, the March 14 bloc considered Aoun cannot impose such conditions on the blocs.
On another note, well-informed sources told as-Safir that what General Abbas Ibrahim had told the members of the terrorist cell sounded promising, also indicated there are positive implications they want to cooperate with Lebanon on the issue of the abducted soldiers.

Meanwhile, diplomatic sources told As-safir that Damascus awaits an official request from the Lebanon government to start cooperation on the file of the abducted soldiers. The sources assured that Syria is keen on Lebanon triumphing in face of terrorism, yet assured that reaching the desired results requires serious and good cooperation between the two countries.

The source also accentuated there is ongoing effort to free the abducted soldiers as soon as possible, highlighting there is major secrecy when dealing with this file.
Al-Nusra and the "ISIL" groups have been holding several troops and policemen hostage since August 2, when they overran the northeastern border town of Arsal and engaged in bloody clashes with the army.

The two groups have since executed three troops and threatened to murder more hostages if Lebanese authorities didn't fulfill their demands.

Al-Akhbar newspaper for its part, noted that there has been a rift between members of the extremists and other political powers. The extremist Shadi al-Mawlawi had issued a statement, threatening some major Sunni clerics and the Muslim Scholars Committee of ‘scandal'.

Al-Mawlawi was arrested for being member of an armed terrorist group staging terrorist acts, and holing up at a Tripoli mosque with the aim of preparing bombs and explosive devices to target Lebanese troops in the area.

Al-Mawlawi reportedly fled later to Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood in the northern city of Tripoli to take the southern Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp as a refuge to prepare for a security operation in cooperation with wanted Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir.

Meanwhile, As-Safir newspaper noted that the Iran and P5+1 negotiations are to crystalize soon, fearing that some parties would hamper the process like was the case in the previous negotiations when French FM Laurent Fabius.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said a comprehensive deal over Tehran's nuclear energy program is possible should six world powers not put forward excessive demands.

"If the opposite party in the negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran has the political will for a deal and avoids excessive demands, the conditions are prepared for the conclusion of a deal," Rouhani said Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, sources close to the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the western world have assured that a historical deal is about to be finalized between the two parties vis a vis Iran's nuclear file.
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A film released by "Deash" "ISIS" shows terrorist fighters burning French passports and calling on others to bring terror to the streets of the European country.
Released by one of Isis's main media outlets, Al Hayat, the video shows four men who purport to be from France, including three who deliver messages in French to camera.

Burning what appear to be several French passports in a campfire, a masked man can be heard saying: "We disbelieve in you and your passports, and if you come here we will fight you."
The emergency of the video comes as France has been rocked by the identification of two of their nationals in a mass beheading of Syrian government soldiers filmed in gruesome detail.

Holding a serrated short sword, a second fighter identified as Abu Maryam Al Faranci says the mujahideen will not hesitate to chop the heads of the "enemies of Islam". "You will even fear travelling to the market," he says.