DAILY SCOPE: 3000 Terrorist Extremists in Lebanon Mountains
Local Editor
AN-NAHAR:
Cabinet Back with Active System
Progress Regarding Soldiers File, Beirut's Southern Suburbs Plan Soon?
ASSAFIR:
ISIS, Nusra Positions above Arsal: 3000 Militants at Altitude of 2500m
AL-MUSTAQBAL:
Kidnapped: "Inspecting Names" with Nusra, "Solution" with ISIS
THE DAILYSTAR:
Salam Takes Tough Line with Cabinet
AL-AKHBAR:
Painful Hit to al-Nusra
Newspapers on Friday focused on the targeting of terrorist groups in Syria, with some local dailies revealing that al-Nusra and Daesh have more than 3000 terrorists located in the heights of Arsal.
Extremist terrorists are still putting a lot of effort to infiltrate Lebanon at the time the Lebanese army continues its security plan to preserve Lebanon's borders from entering the territories, in coordination with the Syrian army and the resistance.
As-Safir newspaper reported on Friday that the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and [the Qaida-affiliate] al-Nusra Front are at present controlling around 992 kilometers of the outskirts between Syria and Lebanon on the country's Eastern Mountain Range, with 450 kilometers inside Lebanon.
According to the paper, the number of armed men entrenched in the area is around 3,000, including 1,500 fighters that defected the so-called Free Syrian Army and joined the two extremist groups. The report further said that 750 pledged allegiance to al-Nusra and 800 to ISIL.
According to the daily, ISIL and al-Nusra are controlling the outskirts of Asal al-Wared in the Syrian Qalamoun, and the upper outskirts of the northeastern border towns of Arsal, Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa. The daily noted that the illegal crossings in Arsal, in particular the Syrian encampments outside the Lebanese army's area of control, are the main funding source for the gunmen.
On the same note, al-Akhbar said that the Arsal outskirts have witnessed major battles during the past two days, where the Lebanese and Syrian armies have been accelerating their targeting of terrorist groups located in posts and not to mention monitoring their movement in the area.
Moreover, al-Liwaa newspaper said that in the most painful strike to the terrorist groups, the military commander of al-Nusra Front and several other top leaders have been killed in an airstrike in Syria's Idlib province.
A "special operation" by the army had targeted the village of Habeet, where a meeting of the Al-Qaeda affiliate's top leaders was underway, but gave no other details, the paper quoted SANA.
Meanwhile, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Friday that General Security chief Major General Abbas Ibrahim discussed, during Thursday's ministerial crisis cell meeting, the latest developments over the Arsal captives case.
"Ibrahim tackled the negotiations being held with al-Nusra Front and the list of demands the militant group submitted to the Qatari delegate to free the kidnapped Lebanese troops," the daily said.
"The General Security chief also briefed the attendees on the reasons behind the stalled negotiations with the "ISIL" group," the newspaper quoted sources as saying, pointing out that "mediation efforts have made a significant progress".
On the ministerial level, the newspaper said that the way Prime Minister Tammam Salam dealt with ministers during Thursday's cabinet session was "different".
"PM Salam stressed that he will no longer allow [ministers] to disrupt the government's work," the daily underscored, and quoted Salam as saying "the decrees issued on regular affairs aren't less important than the ones on governmental affairs".
"In the past, decrees required the signature of 20-21 ministers to be passed. Why did this concept change during the last sessions? Why would the decrees require now the signature of 24 ministers?" Salam asked.
Source: al-Ahed news
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