DAILY SCOPE: Lebanese Servicemen into Freedom

Local Editor

NEWSPAPERS' HEADLINES

AN-NAHAR:

National Lebanese Paraded

AS-SAFIR:

16 Lebanese Kidnapped to Freedom...and 9 Await

-Nasrallah guarantees, Hariri covers, Ibrahim, Damascus and Doha facilitate

AL-AKHBAR:

Thus Nasrallah and Abbas Ibrahim Negotiated

THE DAILYSTAR:

Finally, Lebanon has its Day of Joy

Sixteen Lebanese servicemen, held captive for 16 months by al-Nusra terrorist group, received a hero's welcome in Beirut Tuesday shortly after their release by in exchange for prisoners, including the ex-wife of "ISIS" leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

This comes as the Lebanese dailies highlighted on Hizbullah Secreatry General's role in facilitating the swap.

"As-Safir" newspaper wrote: "Finally, the sixteen kidnapped servicemen by "al-Nusra Front" returned from the prison of outskirts to freedom, via a "real" deal that was made with every single detail, along several months of hard negotiations that included severe "psychological wars.""

The newspaper further added: "It is true that the deal required certain expense at the Lebanese government, since any exchange deal requires compromises at the end of the day, yet the Lebanese negotiator succeeded in releasing the soldiers with the least possible cost after setting a redline for the operation:

None of the terrorists who are accused of crimes or judicial sentences would be released, which happened indeed.

The families of the servicemen won their bet on the Head of General Security Major General Abbas Ibrahim, who in turn won his bet on patience."

As-Safir continued: "Upon finishing the exchange deal, Ibrahim has made the third achievement of this kind after releasing the "A'zaz" kidnapped pilgrims and the Ma'loula nuns, to be cited as a "professional reference" in negotiation based on the accumulation of experiences and expertise, although some Lebanese sides tried to confuse his mission in the beginning and in its halfway, based on narrow considerations related to their complex of roles and sizes."

A Collective National Parade in Lebanese Solidarity with the Soldiers

For its part, "an-Nahar" newspaper wrote: "The celebrations that roamed the Lebanese regions yesterday, after releasing the soldiers that were kidnapped by "al-Nusra Front" in Arsal outskirts since August 2nd, 2014, hid the military show presented by the organization's militants on a Lebanese land, as well as the content of the unclear agreement under which the Lebanese government accepted to open safe paths and routes for aids to the camps that are not under the legal security control."

The paper further noted: "However, the exchange deal in general reflected the success of the state and its institutions in protecting its nationals, especially its soldiers who entered the Governmental Palace as heroes with their military suits in a collective national scene that united the Lebanese people under joy and celebration, although the parents of the soldiers who are still arrested by "ISIS" were anguished, since negotiations to release them are still stuck and cut from almost a year.

This is How Nasrallah and Abbas Ibrahim Negotiated

In addition, "al-Akhbar" newspaper wrote: "We returned our sons from the hands of those who commit beheading. This is the base of what happened yesterday. The rest is marginal, although it sometimes fits discovering that we don't live in a nation that has clear standards in identifying enemies and risks. In "Israel", our existential enemy doesn't recall the arrested soldiers but when referring to them as "the sons that must be returned home." As in Lebanon, yesterday was an occasion for many to pour their anger on the victims, holding them responsible for wasting the states' prestige."

The newspaper added that "some Lebanese forgot yesterday that the soldiers and security forces in Lebanon are victims, before being kidnapped, martyred or wounded. They are the victims of a regime that accepts the occupation of its land, rejects improving the livelihood of the governmental employees and soldiers, and rejects arming its army unless with what is offered by America and its allies. And when they are kidnapped, no one trusts a government that would back him, in all means, protect him, demand his return or do its best to return him safe and sound to his family and work."

"Al-Akhbar" continued: "they are the victims of a regime that accepts the abuse of the emotions of hostages, threatened with being slaughtered for 16 months, on a Lebanese media outlet that desired to be a tool that brightens the image of those who behead, for the sake of Qatar, which decided yesterday to hit two birds with one stone:

- Granting Hizbullah a "gift" under its new policy to decrease the tension in its relations with some regional factors, improve the image of "al-Qaeda in Syria: al-Nusra", earlier to Syrian Vienna Conference

- Getting rid of the image of the terrorist through "al-Jazeera Channel" and the MTV, which were yesterday the official spokespersons of the Takfiri organization."

No Quorum Today, a Session before X-Mas... Assiri: For a President Agreed Upon by Christians

For its part, "al-Joumhouriya" newspaper stated: "Lebanese in general, and the families of the soldiers in particular, lived yesterday a semi-pleasure as the exchange deal succeeded between the General Security and the "al-Nusra Front", under which the 16 soldiers were released in exchange of releasing 25 "extremist" prisoners.

The deal was accomplished with Qatari mediation after hard negotiations led by the Head of General Security Major General Abbas Ibrahim who accompanied the released soldiers from Arsal to the Governmental Palace, asserting his progress to release their 9 colleagues kidnapped by "ISIS". Ibrahim also noted that "the exchange deal took place under conditions that save sovereignty, we don't accept less."

The paper added: "Had the suffering of the soldiers kidnapped since August 2, 2014 ended, the suffering from the presidential void didn't end yet. It will be prolonged again today in the 32nd session to elect the forthcoming president, which will not be held because the quorum will not be complete. Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri will call for the 33rd session, which is expected to take place before Christmas.

Meanwhile, new data emerged indicating the deterioration of the presidential settlement that was called for by PM Saad Hariri in his last Parisian meeting with the Head of "Marada" Suleiman Franjieh, in which he informed him that he supports his candidacy for presidency, as he would be in charge of the next government. The Saudi stance expressed by its Ambassador Ali Awwad al-Assiri on the one hand, and the escalation of Christian rejecting solidity on the other hand boosted the deterioration of this settlement.

Source: al-Ahed News