DAILY SCOPE: Lebanese Border-Villages Unite in Face of Extremist Groups

Local Editor

NEWSPAPER HEADLINES

AS-SAFIR

"Assafir" in Arsal, Labweh, Qaa, Ras Baalbek and Hermel: Locals rally around Army to confront ISIL and al-Nusra

Nuclear Negotiations: Discussing Political Agreement

AL-AKHBAR

Saudi Arabia: ‘al-Jazeera' TV Works under US Orders

World Papers: This is How Riyadh Bought Lebanese Elites

AD-DIYAR

ISIL in Koubani, 23 Kurds Executed, FSA and al-Nusra Unite against Army

AL-JOMHOURIYA

Palestinian FM to al-Jomhouriya: Our Priority National Unity Government, But...

Lebanon continues plummeting in presidential void and governmental crisis, say Lebanese newspapers on Friday. Papers also discussed the latest events in Syria, including the ISIL attacks on Hasakah and Koubani on one part, and the unity of the villages and their people at the borders who are backing the army against the terrorist groups ISIL and al-Nusra. Papers also highlighted the appoitment of a new US ambassador to Lebanon.

Differences Aside, Lebanese Unite in Face of Terrorism --- AS-SAFIR

According to As-Safir newspaper, the people of the Lebanese villages Arsal, Labwe, Qaa, Ras Baalbeck, and Hermel have united to become like ‘one village' and are backing the army against the takfiri groups that constitute a threat to the Lebanese especially at the eastern borders. According to the paper, these villages have become a ‘front line' to the war with the takfiri terrorist groups, as they support the Lebanese army and the resistance fighters situated at the borders.

"The state of alert prevailing over these villages is an awakening that imposed itself on everyone, since the ‘August invasion' and the confrontations between the Lebanese army and the terrorist groups during the past ten months," wrote the paper.

As-Safir went on to say that people from different political parties, despite their differences and disagreements on domestic political matters, have come hand in hand to stand and face the threat, and point their guns together towards the occupied barren lands of Arsal.
 
Terrorist Attacks on Civilians under Disguise --- AN-NAHAR

Terrorist groups launched major attacks on the Kobani and Dara'a areas in Syria on Thursday, in an attempt to take control of territory in the area. According to An-Nahar newspaper, the extremist groups' attacks began with at least one car bomb in the area close to the Turkish border-crossings where the terrorist groups clashed with Kurdish forces trying to defend their territory.

The paper quoted sources saying that the terrorist groups resorted to disguises and tricks to invade the city, saying "they wore the military suits of the Popular Committees and opening fire from their cars as soon as they entered the city."

The terrorist groups, according to the paper, killed at least 35 civilians as well as another 20 from a Kurdish village South of Kobani.

"The militants also - disguised as fighters from the Free Syrian Army - drove five vehicles into the town in the early hours of Thursday and used a suicide bomber to blow up a border crossing with Turkey," said the paper.

"No one can go out of their home, the streets are not safe ... ISIL fighters are getting inside houses and killing everyone they find," sources quoted a civilian in the village.

Around the same time as the Kobani attack, the group launched an assault on the north-eastern city of Hasakah, also killing civilians in the area.

Richard New US Ambassador to Lebanon --- AL-HAYAT

The Obama administration is set to nominate Elizabeth Richard, a deputy assistant secretary of state in the US State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, as Ambassador to Lebanon, al-Hayat reported on Friday.

The daily quoted US and diplomatic sources as saying that if Richard is confirmed by Congress, then she will replace David Hale. Richard is the Coordinator for Foreign Assistance to the Near East. A career foreign service officer, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, from 2010 to 2013. Previously, she was the border coordinator at the US Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Source: al-Ahed News, Edited by website team