DAILY SCOPE: Captured Soldiers Case in Stalemate

Local Editor

NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES:

ASSAFIR:

What is Happening in Riyadh Regarding Presidential Elections?
Captured Soldiers File: Stop Wasting Time, Blood

AN-NAHAR:

Efforts to Unite Negotiations Figures on Captured Soldiers File
Berri: Lebanese Forces Position Does not Abolish Work of Communication Committee
 
AL-AKHBAR:

Kidnapped Crisis: Threats to Resume Killing
Riyadh: Geagea Obligatory Corridor to Choose President

The dominating topics on Lebanese newspapers for Wednesday, 17-12-2014 were the file of the abducted soldiers, the presidential elections, the oil exploration file and the equipping of the Lebanese army.

As for the regional level, papers again focused on the latest developments of the crisis in Syria.

The file of the abducted Lebanese soldiers remains to witness tension and chaos among the Lebanese figures concerned with this file, especially after the swinging demands of al-Nusra front and Daesh terrorist groups, with news on assigning an extremist Islamist to mediate with the Lebanese government.

The extremist al-Nusra Front and the so-called Islamic State groups on Tuesday launched fresh threats to execute the Lebanese troops and policemen who are in their custody, as the so-called ministerial crisis cell failed anew to appease the servicemen's distressed families.

The name of extremist cleric Sheikh Wissam al-Masri has recently surfaced in media reports claiming that he had been named as a possible mediator by al-Nusra Front.
However, the reports were refuted Tuesday by a "prominent al-Nusra Front leader."
"We have not issued any statement tasking Sheikh Wissam al-Masri or any mediator with negotiations over the Lebanese servicemen," as-Safir quoted the Nusra official telling Turkey's Anatolia news agency.

Meanwhile, al-Masri told as-Safir Lebanese daily that "he had received a call informing him that al-Nusra front is losing hope on reaching an assent from the Lebanese government on accepting al-Masri as a mediator, and therefore they will refute assigning him gradually through media outlets." He further went on to say "It is either that I get an official acceptance from the Lebanese government to be the mediator in this case, or else I will not have anything to do with this."

Also according to the paper, the so-called ministerial crisis cell held a meeting at the Grand Serail under Prime Minister Tammam Salam to discuss the developments of the case.

The cell did not announce any resolutions after the talks but Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil had said prior to the meeting that the conferees would "reiterate the need to take serious measures to release the captive soldiers."
The meeting was also supposed to "settle the identity of the negotiators and the negotiations' mechanism," said Khalil.
Al-Mashnouq for his part denied the presence of any "chaos" in the crisis cell, noting that "the channel of negotiations is well-known and Head of the General Security Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim is the head of the security group and everyone agrees on this."

On another note, following the campaign that was held by House Speaker nabih Berri to adopt decrees that are necessary to stop "Israel" from drilling oil from Lebanon's reserves, the offshore gas exploration file is being put on the right track, sources noted.

As-Safir quoted Berri as saying that an agreement was reached among Energy Minister Arthur Nazarian, the head of the parliamentary energy committee, MP Mohammed Qabbani, and the members of the Petroleum Administration to revive the exploration file.

The conferees have also agreed on the designation of blocks, with priority given to those in Lebanon's territorial waters near the border with "Israel".
As-Safir asked the UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson about the international community's possible assistance in the demarcation process. In response, Eliasson said he discussed the issue with Berri during his visit to Beirut. "I also remember very well that we talked about the same subject two years ago. We are now in the same situation and I understand the worries of Speaker Berri," he said.

"We agreed to remain in contact about this issue. But any UN mediation in that regard requires a request made by the Lebanese and "Israeli" sides," Eliasson told as-Safir.

"We haven't so far received any such "Israeli" request," he said.
Last August, the government postponed for the fifth time the first round of licensing for gas exploration over a political dispute.
The disagreements were over the designation of blocks open for bidding and the terms of a draft exploration agreement.

Berri warned on several occasions that the Zionist entity is "stealing" huge amounts of gas through a pipeline that runs along Lebanon's waters.
The speaker has been also calling for the demarcation of the southern territorial waters.

For its part, an-Nahar newspaper noted that the file of abducted Lebanese soldiers has returned to the starting point, "especially in light of the too many chefs in the scene."

There have been a few rumors about who the Lebanese negotiator is, but one of the members of the Cabinet's crisis committee, set up to deal with the captives' case, confirmed that the head of General Security, Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, is still the official negotiator for the country.

He also said that the committee was still following up on the file, and noted that al-Nusra Front and IS were blackmailing the government by using the families' anger and threatening to kill the personnel, then backing down again. These ploys are an attempt to weaken the government's position and put more pressure on it.
____________________

According to the Guardian newspaper, Tony Abbott has refused to link Sydney hostage taker Man Haron Monis with Islam, pointing out: "We don't blame the pope for the IRA and we don't blame the Catholics living next door for the folly and madness of some people who may claim Christian motivations."

The prime minister was repeatedly asked by the ABC AM presenter Chris Uhlmann whether it was necessary to have a more "honest" discussion with Islamic community leaders about the "significant minority" in their community attracted to extremism.
But Abbott replied he had not "heard anyone talking about the Sydney attack as some kind of justifiable response to something Australia might have done ... and frankly anyone who does even think that is dead wrong".

He said Monis was "a deeply unstable person with a long history of violence and mental illness ... someone who was way beyond any mainstream ... and who has been rightly repudiated by all the mainstream of Australia".
"What I hope to see is a spirit of pluralism, a spirit of diversity ... right around the Middle East people are coming to understand this Isil death cult has declared war on everyone, it is not picking sides, it is attacking everyone," he said.

"I guess one of the encouraging things is there are less and less of people trying to explain and justify terrorism in the name of religion ... whether it be in this country, whether it be in the Middle East whether it is on the subcontinent ... Fewer and fewer people today are trying to justify, rationalise or explain terrorism ... because it is simply evil, it is simply wrong.

"They claim to be acting in the name of God ... but there is no serious religious leader who is defending this ... and if you take the Isil death cult in the Middle East it has been roundly condemned by leading Sunni scholars ... there has been fatwa after fatwa pronounced against it."

Abbott said the government would investigate why Monis was not on a security watchlist, because he had been of interest to security agencies and NSW police, had been found guilty of many serious crimes and was clearly a "very, very unsavoury individual".