DAILY SCOPE: Lebanon in Direct Negotiations With Abductors

Local Editor

NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES:

AL-AKHBAR:

Negotiations with ‘al-Nusra': This is How Bazal's Death Was Postponed

ASSAFIR:

Washington Negotiates Regarding Military Soldiers File?
Scandal: Negotiation with Many Heads ... Result is Zero!

AN-NAHAR:
Salam Confirms Government's Decision to Negotiate Directly
"Future - Hizbullah's" dialogue mid-December

DAILY STAR:

Salam: Only Ibrahim in Charge of Hostage Negotiations

Under the title "Scandal: Negotiation with Many Heads ... Result is Zero!", AS-Safir newspaper wrote that the Lebanese soldiers are not the only kidnapped by Daesh and al-Nusra in this case, but so is the will of the Lebanese state which has been the prisoner of hesitation, blackmail and conflicting roles and interests.

According to the paper, the biggest mistake done in the case of the abducted soldiers was that the Lebanese government surrendered to blackmail since the very beginning, which destroyed balance in the rules of negotiations in first place.

The unstable and confused attitude of the Lebanese government, according to the paper, allowed the terrorists to take advantage of the situation and impose more pressure on the Lebanese side to yield to compromises. The Lebanese government, with multiple references and decision makers was unable to improve the conditions of negotiations but rather made things worse.

Most dangerous in the case of the abducted soldiers, as-Safir wrote, is that the case seemed to also fall under the pressure of sectarian divisions, where the religious identity of the soldiers became part of the negotiations. Moreover, the Lebanese daily pointed out that after months of ‘experiments', some statesmen figured out that under the threat of slaughtering more soldiers, direct negotiations with the kidnappers is the best means of communication, and that Mustafa al-Hujeiri, who is wanted by justice, might be more useful in this case than the ‘moody' Qatari mediator Ahmad Khatib, who spends most of his time in the Qatari capital.

Mustafa al-Hujeiri used to mediate between the Lebanese government and terrorists until authorities accused him of belonging to the latter group, and issued an arrest warrant against him.
Also, the paper said that "Syria is an integral path to the success of the negotiation process, especially that Syrian female prisoners are part of any future deal," questioning whether "such a lenient Lebanese stance towards the abductors would actually encourage Damascus to cooperate with the Lebanese state on this file, or would it think twice before taking such a step."

As-Safir further questioned the information provided by some Lebanese sources that the US has become part of the kidnapped Lebanese soldiers' case, as it has demanded Qatar to provide a list of names of American citizens abducted by Daesh and al-Nusra Front in any swap deal.

On a related note, ministerial sources told al-Akhbar newspaper that "The Qatari mediator has not shown serious attitude towards the case of the hostages, which pushed the Lebanese government to try find other means of solving the issue."
The source told the paper "The Qatari mediator promised to show up three days ago, but up to the moment we did not hear from him; there are no encouraging signs to his role in this case."

It also noted that there is no communication currently with Daesh, and that al-Nusra seem unstable, and have been adding new names to the lists for the swap deal. Moreover, the ministerial sources assured that ‘the majority in the committee working on this case agree that negotiating under the umbrella of law is the best solution, which implies that the dangerous wanted terrorists behind the bars should not be released.

For its part, an-Nahar Lebanese daily quoted ministerial sources saying that "the reasons that led the Lebanese government to choose direct negotiations with the Daesh and al-Nusra abductors are: the imminent danger threatening the lives of the Lebanese kidnapped soldiers which has been escalating during the past few days, the slow action of the Qatari mediator on the case and the ambiguity of his role, the Hizbullah success in releasing its detainee [who was kidnapped by the so-called Free Syrian Army earlier] which embarrassed the Lebanese government before public opinion, and last but not least, the absence of any impediments of direct negotiations, especially that Hizbullah has already done that.

On a related note, caretaker Prime Minister Tammam Salam said Sunday that the chief of General Security was solely in charge of negotiations aimed at freeing Lebanese soldiers.

In remarks to his visitors, Salam denied that there was discord within the crisis cell he had created to deal with the issue of the hostages, describing the ongoing talks to free them as "serious" but that no new developments had occurred.

Salam stressed that the negotiations were solely in the hands of Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the head of the General Security, denying that any other government body was involved, and said confusion over who was in charge of the talks was a result of the pressure exerted by the captors on the hostages' families and differences between Daesh and al-Nusra Front.

On the political domestic level, al-Jomhouriya Lebanese daily pointed out that the first session of dialogue between the Future Party and Hizbullah will be held mid-December. Sources said that most likely, Hizbullah SG political advisor Haj Hussein Khalil and one of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc members will take part in the negotiations, most probably MP Hassan Fadlallah, while Nader Hariri and MP Jamal Jarrah will represent the Future Party.

For its part, al-Liwaa newspaper stated that head of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, will personally follow up on the dialogue, who currently awaits to receive drafts from both sides in preparation for the talks, where the dialogue will be held in Ain al-Tineh before the holidays.

In follow up on the food scandal in Lebanon, the Daily Star said that The Health Ministry's food safety campaign against violators hit another target over the weekend, closing Taanayel Center, a dairy producer.

The Taanayel Center operating in Zahle was shut down following major health violations, the Health Ministry said Sunday. The center is not affiliated with Taanayel Les Fermes.

Ministry inspectors were initially prevented from entering the dairy factory, according to the statement.

Considered to be one of the biggest dairy factories in the Bekaa Valley, owned by Rami Abdul-Malak, the place was described as a "disastrous case" by inspectors, prompting Judge Farid Kallas, chief public prosecutor of the Bekaa Valley, to close it down. The inspectors were also joined by a team from the Economy Ministry's Consumer Protection Directorate.

Inspectors found expired yeast and artificial flavors, as well as expired and unlabeled preservatives. The butter too did not have an expiry label. The factory also had a large quantity of kishik believed to have been made using expired dairy products.

Source: al-Ahed news