Date: Aug 16, 2011
Source: The Daily Star
Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Aug. 16, 2011

Following are summaries of the main stories in the Lebanese daily Al-Mustaqbal and pan-Arab newspapers Al-Hayat and Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat Tuesday. Local newspapers observed a holiday Sunday for the Assumption of Mary. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.


Al-Mustaqbal: “Weapons party” [Hezbollah] accuses “Future” [Movement] of being an armed militia
Abbas in Beirut today seeking support at U.N.


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrives in Beirut Tuesday on a two-day visit where he will meet President Michel Sleiman, House Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour and Lebanon’s U.N. ambassador Nawaf Salam.
Abbas’ visit – aimed to win permanent U.N. membership status for a Palestinian state -- is significant given that Lebanon will head the U.N. Security Council in September.
The visit will also be an opportunity to discuss a number of issues relating to the Palestinian situation in Lebanon, particularly conditions in Palestinian refugee camps and Palestinian weapons outside the camps in addition to improving the humanitarian situation facing Palestinian refugees.


Meanwhile, Mikati will preside over a ministerial meeting Tuesday to discuss the situation in Lebanese prisons. The meeting will be attended by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi and a number of officials.
On the opposition front, Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel said the “only way to Lebanon’s salvation is the resurrection of state institutions.”
[Addressing Mikati’s government], Gemayel said: “They promised us a new era where stability, security and prosperity would return. Lord, tell us what is going on?”
“They tell us this government respects international institutions and resolutions and is committed to the course of justice. The same day this government tells us it cannot apprehend those wanted under international arrest warrants.”
“Tell us who we should believe? Tell us what state is this?” Gemayel asked.


On the other front, Hezbollah continued its verbal bombardment spreading accusations of treason. Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem, addressing “those who launched a campaign to disarm the resistance [March 14 forces],” said: “Calls to topple the resistance are meant to weaken Lebanon and expose it to the Israeli enemy.”
Qassem asked March 14: “What did you do you have to boast about? Your achievements in Lebanon?”
He also dubbed the Future Movement a “militia in every sense of the word.”


Al-Hayat: Hundreds of Iraqis killed or wounded in car bombings, suicide attacks


More than 300 Iraqis were killed or wounded in a series of explosions that reached areas in south Iraq that were relatively classified as safe.


Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat: Assad forces shell Palestinian camps in Latakia


The coastal city of Latakia lived a real war Monday as a military crackdown and shelling continued for a third day, particularly targeting a Palestinian refugee camp in al-Raml.
Shelling on the camp intensified with Syrian, using loudspeakers, calling on its population to flee and threatened those who staying behind of being regime opponents.
A spokesman for the United Nations Works and Reliefs Agency said that between 5,000 and 10,000 Palestinian refugees fled, escaping fire or upon instructions from Syrian authorities.