DAILY SCOPE: Saudi Hands in Hariri Stances, Waste Scandal Blind Facts

Local Editor

NEWSPAPER HEADLINES:

AS-SAFIR:

Shehayeb Not Convinced about Forged Documents: Exportation or Else...

AN-NAHAR:

Blind Facts or Hidden Truths on the Exportation Dossier?

Franjieh Turns Calculations Over March 2nd Session's Quorum

AL-AKHBAR:

Franjieh to Hariri: I Will Not Take Part in march 2 Session

AL-JOMHOURIA:

Hariri: I Come Back with My Conditions Not Thiers

AL-BINAA:

Arabs, Media Lose "Heykal": The Free Word and Enlightened Thought

Lebanese newspapers on Thursday shed light on several domestic files, most importantly the waste management scandal of exporting wastes from Beirut to Moscow. The newspapers also focused on the presidential impasse and the visit of Minister Suleiman Franjieh to MP Saad Hariri on Wednesday.

The decease of the great Egyptian man of letters, Mohammad Hasanen Heykal was also in the spotlight, as it dominated over the headlines of newspapers.

AS-SAFIR: Waste Scandal Awaits Clarification, Documents to Be Provided Soon

Lebanon's cabinet is expected to discuss the controversial waste export plan on Thursday, after a scandal surfaced following Russia's Environment Ministry statements that "the ministry has not given its approval to the export of garbage."

According to As-Safir newspaper, Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayeb said that Britain's Chinook Urban Mining Company has until Friday to provide the Lebanese authorities with a document that carries the signatures of the Russian Foreign and Environment ministries as well as the Lebanese Embassy in Moscow. The company Chinook has received the Lebanese government's approval to export the wastes earlier.

"If the [company] was not able to provide the required document, then the agreement which has been struck with it would be immediately considered void," warned the minister.

According to the newspaper, Shehayeb stressed that the documents should also include the signature of the Russian Environment Ministry on its commitment to the export of waste based on the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.

Earlier this week, Nikolai Gudkov, press officer at the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, rejected that Russia gave the green light to send Lebanon's waste to a Russian province.

"The document that we received from the embassy of the Lebanese Republic with regards to our agreement to receive the waste is fake and forged," the Tass Russian news agency quoted Gudkov as saying on Monday, adding that it has an "unregistered signature".

AN-NAHAR: 48-Hour Chance to Prove Waste Scandal Untrue, Salam Says Lobbies Trying to Foil Deal

The Lebanese people are blinded and do not see the lost truths, a phenomenon that has become something normal in Lebanon and is in fact the biggest problem causing a huge gap between the people and the politicians in the country, wrote An-Nahar newspaper on Thursday.

According to the paper, officials now have a 24 or 48-hour chance to prove that the papers and documents of the waste exportation plan have not been forged, otherwise, the waste management crisis will return to the cabinet's table for discussion.

An-Nahar said that during Wednesday's session in Ain al-Tineh, Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam told the conferees that he had met with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergie Lavrov on the sidelines of the latest Munich conference and the latter expressed Russia's interest in the waste management file. According to Salam, Lavrov said Russia wants to take part in finding a solution and would import the wastes to its land, said the daily.

Sources also claimed that a "Lobby" in Lebanon and a "Lobby" in Russia, who share a common interest of harming such a deal, have ongoing communication between them.

AL-JOMHOURIA: Hariri Carried Messages from Saudi Arabia to His Allies

The Lebanese latest events and decisions on the presidential elections are being interpreted by Saudi Arabia and its allies in Lebanon as part of the regional arena rather than a Lebanese domestic affair.

According to al-Jomhouria's Johnny Mnayyar, the latest events in the region are factors drawing a new geopolitical map, based on which Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hizbullah gave his speech. According to Mnayyar, Nasrallah gave a speech in which he declared challenging all the alternatives in the region, in terms of the Syrian war in particular.

Mnayyar noted "[Nasrallah] spoke about a final military solution in Syria and assured his rejection to dividing authority in the country. He said the decision has been made even though it needs some time. This is why the Aleppo battles are very important, which means it will also put Iraq before a new reality, and eventually have its impact on Lebanon."

"In return, Saudi Arabia opened its arms to encompass its allies in Lebanon, and provided Head of the Future Party MP Saad Hariri with all the help to finish his mission and deliver a speech in which he would attack Iranian politics and praise Saudi stances," he explained.

But what remains unclear in Mnayyar's opinion, is the ambiguous clash between head of the Lebanese Forces MP Samir Geagea and MP Saad Hariri which comes in the context of internal quarrelling.

The author quotes experts and diplomats as saying "the serious impression experts and diplomats got from this scenario is that Hariri was carrying a Saudi "dry" message [to Geagea] and that the latter understood it well and that is why he took it easily."

Hence, according to Mnayyar, the reaction of Hariri during the BIEL ceremony was not a "rush reaction" or reflexive flaw like rumors said; and Geagea understood pretty well what that message meant.

Lebanese dailies earlier shed light to the attitude of MP Hariri towards his allegedly strongest ally Head of the Lebanese Forces MP Samir Geagea during the BIEL event.

Hariri insulted Geagea twice during the ceremony, first when he turned his back to Geagea and embraced head of the Kataeb party Sami Gemayel during the memorial photo, and then once again when he directly mocked the reconciliation between Geagea and head of the free patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun.

Source: al-Ahed news