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Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Aug. 17, 2011

Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Wednesday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.

An-Nahar: [Additional] indictments to be issued within hours

Hariri criticizes Iran for stance on STL

Lebanon supports Palestinian state, Abbas backs Lebanon sovereignty

Electricity bill on Cabinet’s agenda tomorrow

Hours before issuing additional indictments in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, according to a U.N. source, the local-regional picture began to take shape – a very complicated  picture expressed by Tehran through its attack on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as questions were raised about what  Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s Wednesday speech could tackle.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri responded to statements made in Tehran, where he saw an “identical stance to statements made by Hezbollah and its secretary-general which are an integral part of a policy toward containing and preventing the STL from achieving its objectives.”

In New York, meanwhile, a U.N. source told An-Nahar, that the international body “took note” that the STL will issue [additional] indictments “in the coming hours” as well as an assessment to Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government response to arrest warrants issued by the STL against four suspects.

The source authorized to speak on this issue told An-Nahar said, however, that he could not confirm whether the new indictments had been approved by Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen.

As-Safir: Hariri hits back at Iran

Abbas: No to naturalization or weapons

Political tension heated up significantly as rhetoric escalated between Hezbollah and the Future Movement with shrapnel reaching Iran, in conjunction with a heated dispute over Gen. Michel Aoun’s electricity proposal [to allocate $1.2 billion to the Energy Minister to produce an additional 700 megawatts for Lebanon,] prompting Aoun to warn his allies in the government majority that his presence in Cabinet is linked to approval of the bill.

“If you want us to stay together, you must cooperate with us,” Aoun said.

Meanwhile, officials were busy Tuesday with a visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Beirut seeking Lebanon’s support for Palestine’s bid for U.N. recognition in September.

As-Safir has learned that Abbas stressed to President Michel Sleiman that “we reject naturalization” of Palestinians in Lebanon. “When the Palestinian state is established, Palestinians will carry Palestinian passports and nationality.”

On the issue of Palestinian arms in Lebanon, Abbas said: “We don’t believe in the presence of Palestinian weapons to protect Palestinians. Instead, we are under the protection of the Lebanese people. We don’t need such weapons and we don’t want them.”

Abbas also told Sleiman that “our choice is negotiations. But since they are stalled, we are forced to go the Security Council.”

Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour told As-Safir that his meeting with Abbas was “excellent” and said an “atmosphere of mutual understanding prevailed.”

Mansour uncovered that a meeting of Arab foreign ministers, including Lebanon, will take place in Qatar Tuesday to take a unified stance on the issue on declaring a Palestinian state and secure international recognition.

Ad-Diyar: Aoun disturbed by Marwan Charbel for disloyalty toward “Interior” [Ministry]

It seems that Gen. Michel Aoun is disturbed by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel for his disloyalty toward the Interior Ministry, particularly with regard to Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi and Col. Wissan Hasan.

It also seems that a confrontation is likely to escalate between Gen. Aoun and Mikati in respect to Rifi and Hasan, who Mikati consider a red lines.

On a separate issue, Speaker Nabih Berri will meet head of the National Struggle Front Walid Jumblatt to discuss coordination of draft laws submitted to Parliament and take the appropriate positions.

Meanwhile, the conflict between Mikati and Energy Minister Jibran Bassil over the electricity draft law is likely to heat up with Bassil insisting on appearing as the only savior of the electricity issue while Mikati believes that the issue should be handled by the government, not the ministry.

The reason behind the real fear in the electricity issue is that the International Monetary Fund will seek to reduce the level of interest in Lebanon if Lebanon takes up a loan from outside Paris-3 and other funds that provide assistance. Bassil, however, wants to implement the project with companies by himself without having to go through funds which impose strict control over the implementation of the plan.

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