DAILY SCOPE: Lebanon Crises Unresolved, National Dialogue under Threat

Local Editor

NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES:

AS-SAFIR:

Lebanese-Syrian Contacts to Facilitate Set Up of ‘Border Landfill'

Dialogue Threatened, Movement Challenges Authority

AL-AKHBAR:

Army Head Qahwaji: Promotions Damage Army

The DAILY STAR:

Activists Demand Interior Minister's Dismissal

AN-NAHAR:

Two Months since Garbage Crisis, Till When?

AL-BINAA:

White House Approves of Kremlin's Call for Military Cooperation against Terrorism in Syria

Lebanese newspapers on Friday 18 September 2015 shed light on the latest events taking place in Lebanon and the continuation of the political crises in the middle-eastern country. The country continues to manage its affairs in the absence of a president, at the time the waste management crisis has not reached any solution and the streets still witness daily protests in which the people have been calling for their basic rights.

Outside Lebanon, the case is still chaotic, as violence keeps escalating in Yemen in light of the Saudi aggression and takfiri movements, while Western officials meet to find an exit to the Syrian crisis.

Berri: National Dialogue under Threat --- AS-SAFIR:

Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri is apparently seeking to reach a settlement on the presidential crisis and an electoral draft-law, stressing that the national dialogue would be under threat if officials boycott it.

Well-informed sources told As-Safir Lebanese daily that Berri is making efforts to strike a deal among the participants in the dialogue, to agree on a presidential candidate and approve the electoral law in a bid to resolve the country's political crisis. Yet, the sources did not give further details.

But Berri told his visitors in remarks published in the daily on Friday that the second round of all-party talks earlier in the week was better than the first.

He said his objective is to "reach a comprehensive solution that starts with the presidency and leads to all other issues."

"I have asked the conferees to bring answers to the next session on the proposals I have made," Berri told the visitors.

Berri had stressed during the opening of the second round of national dialogue at Parliament the need to hold dialogue at this critical stage, asserting that there is "no rescue except through dialogue".

Waste Crisis Resolved by End of the Week --- AN-NAHAR:

An-Nahar newspaper reported that communication between the officials in Lebanon on the waste crisis will widen to include those who had opposed the solution-finding process, and that the crisis will see a solution by the beginning of next week.

Sources also said that the government preferred not to resort to violence in executing the plan and chose to sit for dialogue to resolve the crisis that has caused protests and disappointment across the country.

Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk announced Saturday evening that the collection of garbage will resume in Beirut and Mount Lebanon in a matter of hours after the ministry located new dumps, declaring an end to a six-day crisis that saw the capital and its suburbs buried under piles of waste.

Lebanon has witnessed dozens of protests in the past two months over several issues atop of which was the crisis of waste disposal which hadn't been resolved yet.

Qahwaji: Promotions Damage Army --- AL-AKHBAR

Al-Akhbar newspaper reported that Head of the Lebanese army Gen. Jean Qahwaji has made a series of calls during the past few days to contact several politicians and ambassadors in the country, saying that the ‘promotion issue is destroying the Lebanese army'.

The government has been paralyzed for months over differences between the rival parties on the cabinet's decision-making mechanism and the issue of military appointments.

Aden Becoming Like Libyan Example --- AL-AKHBAR:

A field source told al-Akhbar newspaper that the extremist groups have become very violent in Yemen's Aden. The source said the situation is very painful, with the violence, theft, robbery, and chaos caused by the terrorist hooligans, noting that the Southern part of Yemen, particularly Aden are becoming to look like Libya.

Moreover, a Yemeni official revealed that the United Arab Emirates has sent hundreds of police cars, which quickly fell in the hands of the organized gangs and extremist terrorists, while one hundred armored vehicles also disappeared, assuring these are provided by GPS system and can be soon located.

The source further told the newspaper that the situation is out of control now, adding that the "Gulf occupation forces" are without a doubt cooperating with al-Qaeda in Yemen in the battles against the popular committees and the army.

On March 26, Saudi Arabia began its aggression against Yemen - without a UN mandate - in a bid to undermine the Ansarullah movement and restore power to the country's fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh.

The Saudi-US war on Yemen has so far left more than 5000 dead and thousands of others wounded after months of constant air raids.

Source: al-Ahed News, Edited by website team