DAILY SCOPE: Hariri Oger Collapsing, Hariri Family No Longer Gate to Saudis in Lebanon

Local Editor

LEBANESE DAILIES:

AS-SAFIR:

"Saudi Oger": Financial, Administrative Corruption...Losing Royal Umbrella

Hariri Empire Collapsing...Saudi Arabia Watching

AL-AKHBAR:

Tehran Meeting: Reclaiming Initiative

"Israel": Hizbullah is A Strategic Threat, Not Existential

AN-NAHAR:

CIA: Daesh is Still Capable of Carrying out Terrorist Attacks around the World

AL-BINAA:

Harb's Scandal on Cabinet Table, Saudi Arabia Distances Itself from Hariri

AS-SAFIR: Hariri Oger Empire in Saudi Arabia Collapsing

The Hariri economic empire in Saudi Arabia seems to be collapsing. Witnesses told As-Safir newspaper on Friday that the Hariri-owned "Saudi Oger" company is facing strikes almost on daily basis, as Asian workers decided to start a strike that went violent. According to the witnesses, the workers broke into offices destroying them and burned buses belonging to the company, which led the Saudi security forces to step in even if at a late time.

Tens of employees who were protesting not receiving their salaries for the fourth month in a row were arrested by the security forces.

As-Safir pointed out that the company has been witnessing a partial strike in its headquarters in Riyadh in which Saudi employees have also taken part, while others decided to go on an open strike.

A prominent director at the company told As-Safir sarcastically that "When Hariri was supposed to be in Lebanon during the past few years, he had spent his time here in Riyadh and discovered very late that he had to be in Beirut instead. Today, the same case happens vice versa; Hariri is demanded to be in Saudi Arabia to appease the "army of employees" especially that their fate and the fate of the company seem unknown."

Meanwhile, Saudi governmental sources from the Finance Ministry told the newspaper that it had "delivered tremendous sums of money to the Saudi Oger company, which was enough to send many of its employees back home just like the case was with the ‘Bin Laden group company', but no one knows anything about the money, other than speculations that it were spent to cover financial commitments related directly to Hariri."

Following a five-year absence that he spent in France and Saudi Arabia, Hariri returned to Lebanon in February for a ceremony commemorating the 11th anniversary of Rafik Hariri's assassination and announced that he will stay in Beirut.

Lebanese media reports linked Hariri's visit to different issues, including the extensive financial crisis he is facing. The French Le Point reported the 56,000 employees of his construction firm, Saudi Oger, haven't been paid for months.

AL-BINAA: Saudi Arabia Decides to Distant Itself from Hariri

On the same note, al-Binaa Lebanese daily pointed out on Friday that the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Ali Assiri has been interpreting the guidelines and recommendations of the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, which in their turn reflect the decision of Mohammad bin Salman to distance Saudi Arabia from Hariri.

According to the paper, Saudi Arabia is acting like a reference that is open to all sides and the Hariri family is no longer its gate to Lebanon. This conclusion, according to the paper, was made by sources following up on the Saudi policies in Lebanon that was clear especially through its invitations for iftar banquets at the embassy during the month of Ramadan.

On another note, the newspaper said that the ministerial council meeting held on Thursday turned into a sarcastic session, as everyone made fun of the report presented by the Telecoms Minister Botrous Harb. According to the paper, the report did not have any answers to questions on the contracts between the ministry and the Telecoms Company Ogero that were concluded without the knowledge of the government, and did not have any answers either to the thorny issues related to the illegal internet scandal.

Therefore, the cabinet tasked Harb to draft a report about the role of the state-owned telecom operator and his ministry as part of a wider probe into a recently uncovered network of illicit internet providers.

AL-JOMHOURIA: Terrorist Groups Willing to Carry Ops inside Lebanon

A high-ranking military source told al-Jomhouria newspaper that "it has been quite some time since the army intelligence received security information that some groups are willing to carry out explosions inside Lebanon to shake its stability. According to the source, the army decided to take swift measures and carry out operations in different areas, most important of which was the dismantling of the Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"] terrorist group that was exposed in Kherbet Dawoud in Akkar in North Lebanon.

Moreover, the sources said that the security information in the hands of the embassies and that made its way to the media was already delivered to the Lebanese army and its intelligence earlier.

The sources stressed that "the Lebanese army will continue to carry out its tight security measures in Beirut as well as across Lebanon to preserve its stability."

The Lebanese Army had killed one Daesh militant during a major operation in the northern district of Akkar. The state-run National News Agency reported early June that that an Army unit raided a Daesh cell in Akkar's town of Kherbet Daoud, arresting three Daesh militants in the operation.

The extremist militant cell was said to have been responsible for the killing of three Lebanese soldiers and injuring an officer with the rank of First Adjutant, according to local media reports.

Source: al-Ahed News