DAILY SCOPE: More Revealed on Terrorist Attacks in Dahiyeh

Local Editor

NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES:

AS-SAFIR

AS-Safir Publishes Details on the Dahiyeh Explosions

Syria: "Jihadist" Oil in Exchange for Food... Ammunition!

AL-AKHBAR

Lebanon's Ambassador to Moscow: Boghdanov Says Aoun Should Let Go of Presidency

AL-BINAA

Yemen to See Ramadan Truce on Saturday

Nationalists Assure Resistance Popular Front Consistent, Lay Sweida Martyrs to Rest in Peace

Lebanese newspaper on Friday published reports in which it revealed details of the terrorist explosions and suicide attacks that took place in Beirut's southern suburbs, Dahiyeh. On another note, the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon has reached 1.2 million, amidst the absence of a national crisis plan to resolve the matter. Papers also shed light on Yemen, with focus on the Geneva peace talks that are intended to bring the Saudi war on Yemen to an end.

AS-SAFIR

As-Safir newspaper said on Friday that according to the confessions of the terrorist man known as Naim Abbas, he stands behind all terrorist crimes that hit Beirut's southern suburb, Dahiyeh, which was the target of numerous suicide attacks and explosions.

According to the paper, Abbas was the ‘mastermind' behind four major attacks that took place in Dahiyeh, and confessed to have brought 6 car bombs from Syria to Lebanon. He also confessed to being the ‘spiritual leader' of the suicide bombers.

Abbas acted as the go-to man for anyone who wanted to carry out terrorist attacks in Dahiyeh, revealing his role as the "exclusive agent" of al-Nusra Front and ISIS in Beirut.

Interestingly, Abbas had earlier confessed to having links with Abu Khaled al-Souri, co-founder of the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic Movement, who was a companion of Osama bin Laden and Abdullah Azzam. He was also Ayman al-Zawahiri's so-called deputy in Syria. Al-Souri, who was assassinated in Aleppo three days ago, had been tasked to mediate the dispute between al-Nusra and ISIS.

Syrian Refugees Case Should Not Cause Political Tension --- AN-NAHAR

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas told An-Nahar newspaper that the Syrian refugee crisis is a national cause that requires a political state of emergency to overcome its repercussions.

"The issue of the displaced Syrians should not cause political tension," Derbas said on Friday, a day after he referred a detailed report on the refugees to Prime Minister Tammam Salam and several cabinet ministers.
"It is a national cause that requires the announcement of a political state of emergency, involving the alertness of all political parties," he noted.

Derbas said that the number of refugees registered with the U.N. refugee agency, the UNHCR, has reached approximately 1.2 million, not to mention that more Syrians have entered the country illegally and are not registered. In his remarks to An-Nahar, Derbas reiterated that there was a need for joint Lebanese-Jordanian work to ask for safe areas for refugees in Syria.

Lebanese authorities have repeatedly called for the establishment of safe areas in Syria mainly on the border with Lebanon. But their demand has not been met with a positive reaction.

An estimated 4 million people have fled Syria, with more than half of the country's population displaced.

Russia Loud Stance on Lebanese Presidential Impasse --- AL-AKHBAR

Lebanon's Ambassador to Moscow, Shawqi Bou Nassar, has said in a report that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was in favor of Aoun to "pave way for other candidates and allow other Christian personalities to announce their candidacies," published al-Akhbar newspaper on Friday.

Aoun should also make an initiative with his allies to guarantee a quorum in the parliament to elect a president, Bogdanov reportedly said, stressing that Moscow stands at an equal distance from all political parties in Lebanon and has good ties with all the candidates.

According to Bou Nassar's report, Bogdanov informed Deputy Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir Abdul Lahyan during a meeting they held in May that Russian President Vladimir Putin calls for the facilitation of the election of a president.

The report said that Russia wants the election of a consensual president as soon as possible. The country's presidential chair [the top Christian post] has been vacant since President Michel Suleiman's six-year tenure ended in May last year.

At the end of the report, Bou Nassar was quoted by the paper as saying "it was unprecedented to hear the announced Russian position, especially that no other Russian official had discussed the details of the presidential crisis in Lebanon..."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team