Lebanon's Arabic press digest – Oct. 20, 2014

The following are a selection of stories from Lebanese newspapers that may be of interest to Daily Star readers. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.

An-Nahar

45,000 Syrian refugees in Arsal: UNHCR

UNHCR representative in Lebanon Ninette Kelley said the humanitarian agency had registered 45,000 Syrian refugees in the northeastern border town of Arsal.

Kelley told An-Nahar that Arsal still shelters refugees, adding that UNHCR cannot determine their number due to the fact that international agencies are not present in the town.

Al-Joumhouria

Hariri prepares to return to Beirut soon

Well-informed sources told Al-Joumouria that preparations were underway for the imminent return to Beirut by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

The sources said Hariri held several contacts to sort out urgent matters before moving out of Saudi Arabia to follow up on preparations for the Lebanese parliamentary extension in line with a road map he personally plans to present to Lebanese leaders.

They said Hariri also will follow closely the ongoing national efforts to secure weapons for the Lebanese Army and security forces.

Al-Akhbar

Parliament’s extension before Oct 29

Parliamentary sources told Al-Akhbar that a legislative session is likely to be held before Oct. 29 to extend Parliament’s mandate.

Separately, ministerial sources denied that negotiations to resolve the Lebanese hostage crisis had been halted.

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Iran vows to assist Lebanese Army, people, resistance

BEIRUT: Defense Minister Samir Moqbel is expected to discuss an Iranian aid package to the Lebanese Army during this week’s Cabinet session, as top officials in Iran vowed continued support Sunday to Lebanon’s people, Army and resistance.

“Besides arms aid to the Lebanese Army, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to transfer its experience to improve security in Lebanon and the region, and fight terrorism,” Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani told Moqbel in Tehran

“Supporting the Lebanese nation, Army and resistance will still remain on Iran’s agenda,” he added.

According to Iran’s Fars news agency, Moqbel underlined the importance of Iran’s assistance, and said advanced equipment for the Lebanese Army would improve the Army’s operational power against terrorist groups, and help it maintain stability and tranquility in the country.

Moqbel also held talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Defense Minister Hussein Dehqan

Rouhani said his country would support the peoples of Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, and others who are fighting terrorism.

He spoke during a meeting with Moqbel, who is currently on a three-day visit to Iran to discuss the pledged Iranian military grant to the Lebanese Army. Rouhani hoped that the Lebanese people, with all their sects, would be vigilant and “united in the face of enemies seeking to harm the country’s territorial integrity.”

The Iranian pledge has been at the center of controversy in Lebanon, as Fars reported that at the end of his visit the Lebanese defense minister is due to take Iran’s arms aid back to his country.

But it remained unclear whether Lebanon was going to accept the aid after several ministers affiliated with the March 14 alliance raised concerns over whether the arms transfer would be a violation of U.N. sanctions against Tehran, and some media reports have said that Western diplomats have pressured Lebanon to reject the offer.

Ministerial sources said Moqbel was expected to brief the Lebanese government about his talks in Tehran.

The Iranian media Sunday reported that Tehran would provide the Army with semi- heavy machine guns and ammunition, 120 mm mortars, 120 mm ammunition, 60 mm ammunition, TOW anti-armor missiles, TOW rockets, 155 mm artillery shells, night vision goggles, and T-55 and T-62 tank ammunition.

Echoing Shamkhani, the Iranian foreign minister voiced Tehran’s readiness to provide modern military equipment and strategic assistance to the Lebanese Army “to enable it to gain an upper hand in its fight against terrorism.”

During his trip to Lebanon last month, Shamkhani announced that Iran would provide Lebanon with needed military aid.

The aid aims to help the Lebanese Army battle extremists who have infiltrated the border with Syria. The Army has been engaged with militants from ISIS and the Nusra Front since clashes erupted in the northeastern town of Arsal last month.

While the Army was able to drive the militants out of the town and into its outskirts by the Syrian border, the militants were able to take at least 30 soldiers and police captive during their retreat. At least 27 servicemen remain in the custody of militants positioned on the outskirts of Arsal.

Iran vows to assist Lebanese Army, people, resistance

BEIRUT: Defense Minister Samir Moqbel is expected to discuss an Iranian aid package to the Lebanese Army during this week’s Cabinet session, as top officials in Iran vowed continued support Sunday to Lebanon’s people, Army and resistance.

“Besides arms aid to the Lebanese Army, the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to transfer its experience to improve security in Lebanon and the region, and fight terrorism,” Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani told Moqbel in Tehran

“Supporting the Lebanese nation, Army and resistance will still remain on Iran’s agenda,” he added.

According to Iran’s Fars news agency, Moqbel underlined the importance of Iran’s assistance, and said advanced equipment for the Lebanese Army would improve the Army’s operational power against terrorist groups, and help it maintain stability and tranquility in the country.

Moqbel also held talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Defense Minister Hussein Dehqan

Rouhani said his country would support the peoples of Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, and others who are fighting terrorism.

He spoke during a meeting with Moqbel, who is currently on a three-day visit to Iran to discuss the pledged Iranian military grant to the Lebanese Army. Rouhani hoped that the Lebanese people, with all their sects, would be vigilant and “united in the face of enemies seeking to harm the country’s territorial integrity.”

The Iranian pledge has been at the center of controversy in Lebanon, as Fars reported that at the end of his visit the Lebanese defense minister is due to take Iran’s arms aid back to his country.

But it remained unclear whether Lebanon was going to accept the aid after several ministers affiliated with the March 14 alliance raised concerns over whether the arms transfer would be a violation of U.N. sanctions against Tehran, and some media reports have said that Western diplomats have pressured Lebanon to reject the offer.

Ministerial sources said Moqbel was expected to brief the Lebanese government about his talks in Tehran.

The Iranian media Sunday reported that Tehran would provide the Army with semi- heavy machine guns and ammunition, 120 mm mortars, 120 mm ammunition, 60 mm ammunition, TOW anti-armor missiles, TOW rockets, 155 mm artillery shells, night vision goggles, and T-55 and T-62 tank ammunition.

Echoing Shamkhani, the Iranian foreign minister voiced Tehran’s readiness to provide modern military equipment and strategic assistance to the Lebanese Army “to enable it to gain an upper hand in its fight against terrorism.”

During his trip to Lebanon last month, Shamkhani announced that Iran would provide Lebanon with needed military aid.

The aid aims to help the Lebanese Army battle extremists who have infiltrated the border with Syria. The Army has been engaged with militants from ISIS and the Nusra Front since clashes erupted in the northeastern town of Arsal last month.

While the Army was able to drive the militants out of the town and into its outskirts by the Syrian border, the militants were able to take at least 30 soldiers and police captive during their retreat. At least 27 servicemen remain in the custody of militants positioned on the outskirts of Arsal.

Storms cause havoc for some, relief for others

TRIPOLI/SIDON, Lebanon: The weekend’s stormy weather is expected to subside this week after heavy rains swelled Sidon’s Awali River and flooded villages in north Lebanon, prompting Higher Relief Committee Secretary-General Maj. Gen. Mohammad Kheir to pay a visit to the area Sunday. After northern winter winds from Russia led to an overall decrease in temperatures and stormy weather, the Meteorological Department at Rafik Hariri International Airport told The Daily Star, the country is expected to see less rain over the next few days and warmer temperatures throughout.

However, in the northern districts of Akkar and Dinnieh the damage has already been done.

Accompanied by a team of engineers, Kheir made a tour of the battered north, making his first stop at the Akkar village of Mhammara where flooding has affected houses, shops, warehouses, agricultural land and bridges.

He then went to the villages of Benin and Burj al-Arab, which flooded after Nahr al-Bared river’s irrigation canal spilled over, destroying agricultural crops and livestock in the area and closing off the road linking Halba to al-Abdeh between 5 and 10 a.m.

“The municipality has exerted [huge] efforts over the past 48 hours,” said Benin’s Mayor Kifah al-Kasar, adding that the body could not be held responsible for what he called a natural disaster.

“[We urge] the Higher Relief Committee to compensate the affected citizens and help rebuild the passages, bridges and the canals [that were affected] by the floods,” said Kasar, who met with Kheir at the municipality.

Kheir, however, disagreed. “Based on observations, the damage that was inflicted was due to heavy rains over two hours. I didn’t sense that there was a natural disaster,” said Kheir at the end of his tour. “What we witnessed was damage that was the result of [the huge] amount of rainfall that couldn’t be disposed of through an outlet.”

Kheir also dismissed that the committee should help people clean their damaged properties or provide compensation, saying their priorities and mission lay elsewhere.

“The disaster is huge and can’t be confined to a specific time because the damage and losses are too heavy and expensive and the committee doesn’t have the capacity to compensate for this scale of damage,” said Kheir. “Officials in the government should provide huge financial capabilities to remove [cost] of the damage from the area’s citizens.”

“As Prime Minister Tammam Salam said, the committee will help citizens to open closed roads, remove infringements that constitute a danger for the buildings, rebuild passages and provide bridges,” he said, adding that damage resulting from personal neglect would not be compensated.

Kheir, who also visited Miniyeh, Bqaa Sifrin, Bqarsouna, Jerd al-Nejas and Bhannine, urged people to clean the rivers, streams and canals so they were able to dispose of the winter’s rain properly without breaching.

In the village of Minyara, the walls of several homes crumbled as a result of the floods. In the village of Halba, mud covered the main streets, with gravel and rock closing off the entrances to the Serail.

In the northern Dinnieh district village of Qarsita, about 50 families had to evacuate their homes overnight after they were inundated with water, mud and rock. The roads to the village were completely blocked, and only a few entrances had been partially reopened Sunday.

The heavy rain also caused a water crisis in the area, with homes either completely cut off from their water supply or receiving polluted water.

Further north, in Akkar, the Lebanese Red Cross relocated dozens of Syrian refugee families from villages and towns damaged by flooding, where rising water levels loaded with rocks, gravel and stones damaged a number of vehicles and caused extensive damage to several homes in the area.

Syrian refugees also suffered as a result of the heavy rains in western and central Bekaa Valley, with camps and belongings damaged by flooding.

Major highways in Lebanon were also hit by the weather, with motorists taking to social media to post photos of the flooding.

One picture posted on the Traffic Management Center’s official Twitter page showed the Antelias-Bikfaya highway covered in soil, rocks and water, while another from the Joumhour area showed cars stuck in pools of water as a giant Civil Defense Forces truck tried to pull them out.

It wasn’t all bad news, however, as the rain brought much-needed relief to the dried-out Lake Qaraoun in the Western Bekaa following a drought that saw the water level drop by 90 percent.

In the southern capital of Sidon , the heavy rainfall was also highly anticipated after the summer drought and unusually dry winter last year.

The Awali River came back to life overnight, becoming the perfect place for ducks to have a swim.

Shipping traffic in the southern port wasn’t affected by the storm as it had already paused for the weekend, and the commercial ships off the city’s shore are expected to resume work as usual Monday.

Some fishermen even managed to make it out at night as usual despite the winds, according to the secretary of the fishermen’s union in Sidon, Nazih Sanbal, and residents took advantage of brief spells of clear skies over the weekend to get out and about.

Volatile security situation in the north risks military flare-up

The security situation in north Lebanon, particularly in the city of Tripoli and the Akkar district, is still very precarious and carries with it the risks of a possible military flare-up, high-ranking security sources said Sunday.

Worse still, the sources warned of attempts by armed groups in the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood of Tripoli, which are funded by Arab financiers and enjoy popular and political support, to establish a self-controlled security zone independent from state authority to support the Syrian revolution in response to Hezbollah’s military intervention alongside President Bashar Assad’s forces.

These security zones would be similar to security zones in some areas in Beirut, the Bekaa region and the Lebanese-Syrian border, the sources said, referring to areas controlled by Hezbollah fighters.

Citing simmering tensions in Tripoli, the sources said renewed clashes between the Lebanese Army and gunmen in the restive Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood, whose residents support the Syrian rebels, were still possible.

The sources said two notorious militants, Shadi Mawlawi and Ousama Mansour, had left the Abdullah bin Masoud Mosque in Bab al-Tabbaneh along with their armed supporters under an agreement mediated by local sheikhs, but the Army had not deployed around the mosque, which is now under the control of Dar al-Fatwa.

Mawlawi and Mansour, who were sentenced to death in absentia for their involvement in a deadly bombing targeting the Lebanese Army in Tripoli in August, are still with their supporters and arms in Tripoli, the sources said.

They added that there were large quantities of different types of arms stashed in narrow alleys and poor neighborhoods in Tripoli.

Renewed attacks on Army posts in Tripoli and Akkar have threatened the relative stability achieved since the implementation of a government security plan in April to restore law and order to the city, which had been rocked by a series of deadly clashes over the past few years between Assad’s supporters and his opponents in the neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.

Although the Bab al-Tabbaneh-Jabal Mohsen fighting has ended under a political deal, the sources warned that the fact that armed groups in Bab al-Tabbaneh were trying to set up self-controlled security zones meant that Tripoli was potentially facing a more dangerous situation.

Furthermore, many people in Akkar, driven by sectarian incitement, have become hostile to the Army and its operation in the area, the sources said.

Security agencies possess information about the movements of gunmen in Tripoli who are aiming to create an armed force starting from Lebanese territory to fight publicly alongside the Syrian opposition, the sources said. They added that those gunmen were demanding the same treatment – i.e. freedom of movement – as that granted to Hezbollah fighters who went to Syria to defend the regime.

The armed groups in Tripoli and Akkar view “the Syrian regime as an enemy and that they are bound by their national and religious duty to fight it and that the time has come for the state and the Army to stop barring them from doing their duties toward the Syrian people.”

Concerning the recent attacks on the Army, the same sources said there were question marks about the identity and goal of the attackers, as well as a mystery as to whether these attacks are carried out by terrorist sleeper cells or are the work of Syrian intelligence.

Irrespective of the identity of the attackers, “the aim is the same, which is to cause trouble to the Army and push it either to get tough with the anti-Syrian regime groups, or to cooperate to facilitate the movement of Syrian rebels,” the sources said.

High-ranking military sources said that security measures taken in the north in general, and in Tripoli in particular, were not sufficient to confront the dangers threatening the area.

For instance, the sources said there was only one Army checkpoint in Deir Ammar and another at Madfoun Bridge, but the latter checkpoint’s effectiveness was limited with regard to monitoring and pursuing criminals. This explains the repeated attacks on the military in the same area in Akkar, they said.

Despite statements of support for the Army by rival politicians, the sources said “incitement against the Army is still ongoing, while podiums of some mosques and organizations are still open to extremists who contribute toward the mobilization against the military establishment.”

Meanwhile, a former minister painted a bleak picture after meeting Hezbollah officials, saying that the situation was headed for an escalation, with no signs of a political or military truce.

“Hezbollah sees that the battle against the terrorists in Shebaa and Hasbaya is not far off and that the next few weeks might witness fighting on this front,” said the former minister, who declined to be named.

He did not rule out the possibility of “Israeli hands” in aiding the terrorists to open the Shebaa-Hasbaya front, adding that Hezbollah was fully ready for any eventuality.

On the political front, Hezbollah and its March 8 allies, according to the former minister, see that all channels that could lead to a breakthrough in the presidential deadlock were closed.

“The clear divergence between Tehran and Riyadh in their approach to the situation [in the region] will not help solve the presidential election crisis or improve the deteriorating security conditions,” he added.

Discrimination persists in drug law application

BEIRUT: Over a year after the activation of the National Committee for Combating Addiction and a binding ruling by the Court of Cassation, some judges are still refusing to apply the drug law by allowing drug users to seek treatment in lieu of prosecution. Activists and lawyers who spoke to The Daily Star said many prosecutors and judges still perceive addicts as criminals, especially if they are from impoverished or troubled backgrounds.

“Judges are trying to help but are now just recently being educated,” said Rabih Khattab, one of the founders of the Cedar Rehab Center in Hammana, which opened earlier this year. “We’ve gotten phone calls [from judges] where they ask if a patient can be admitted to rehab rather than going to jail, but they only call when they know the patient is ‘not suitable’ to be in a jail cell, suitable meaning somebody coming from a good family.”

Although some judges might assume only wealthy users can afford Cedar’s $7,000-a-month price tag, Khattab said the center operates on a sliding scale and about half of all patients receive financial assistance. The Oum al-Nour association offers inpatient rehabilitation for free, but a spokesperson for the institution refused to discuss its relationship to the judiciary or whether the number of referred cases had risen since the Committee’s formation.

The drug law, otherwise known as Law 673 or the 1998 law, stipulates that anyone accused of drug possession or use – not trafficking or selling – has the option to pursue treatment at a government-approved facility in exchange for having charges dropped.

However, until 2013, the Committee for Combating Addiction, the body outlined in the law and charged with overseeing these cases, remained ink on paper, leaving individual judges to make their own arrangements – or not.

Sympathetic judges forged fruitful working relationships with nonprofit treatment centers to which they referred users, sometimes suspending sentences and in at least one case dismissing charges altogether. Many more, however, chose to prosecute drug users as criminals in the Committee’s absence.

While activation of the Committee in early 2013 was hailed as a big step forward, some active members of the recovery community complain about the Committee’s pace of progress and relatively low number of cases it has taken on. Meanwhile, many judges continue to ignore the Committee’s existence altogether.

“We don’t have a big number to be able to evaluate the Committee’s work,” said Kareem Nammour, a lawyer who works with Skoun Addictions Center. “The number of files is not big compared to the number of prosecutions that happen per year.”

He said there were several factors that contributed to this phenomenon, including a lack of information about the Committee both among judges and defendants who don’t know their rights.

“There is a practice that people are not able to let go of,” he said. “Prosecutors and some of the judges still see drug users as criminals that should be prosecuted and put in prison or punished.”

Skoun has been working to raise awareness among judges, politicians and the general public with its “Support Don’t Punish” campaign, as well as undertaking strategic cases in courts across Lebanon pushing for the literal and full application of the law.

“The point of this litigation is to force judges to send people to the Committee,” Nammour said. “If the first instance judge refuses, we go to appeal, if appeal refuses, we go to the Court of Cassation.”

Skoun’s legal team, which includes Nammour and his partner, Nizar Saghieh, won a case before the Court of Cassation last year. The judge ruled that the law is not to be applied at the discretion of members of the judiciary, reiterating their legal obligation to refer all qualifying cases to the Committee.

In some cases, the law is being abused or misinterpreted by law enforcement before a judge even lays eyes on a case. One source said that police are demanding drug users pay up to $45 for weekly drug tests that cost just a few dollars in exchange for their release. Saghieh clarified that the Beirut Public Prosecutor issued a memo to police instructing them to release first time offenders from jail provided they show up for monthly drug tests, but added that this does not halt prosecution.

Wassim (not his real name) was addicted to drugs and alcohol for 10-15 years before getting sober earlier this year at Cedar Rehab Center. Before Cedar, he tried several different programs in Lebanon without success because, he said, the emphasis was on detoxification rather than addressing the root causes of addiction through therapy.

His own brush with the law happened about six years ago when his family grew desperate and called the police. Many people do not think of addiction as an illness, he explained, and therefore an addict’s erratic or hurtful behavior is mistaken for his or her true character.

“This happens a lot, where the family gets to a point, because they are not educated enough in the subject, where they think if they bring the police, [the addict] will stop using drugs,” he said.

Wassim said he was not given the option of treatment, and the conviction remained on his criminal record for five years. “If I had had the opportunity to get treatment at that time, maybe it wouldn’t have gotten to this point,” said Wassim, who struggled to get clean for years following his arrest.

While more treatment options exist now than ever before, another obstacle to the full implementation of the law is financial. The law requires that treatment be provided for free either at a public rehab center or one approved by the Health Ministry. However, the only public rehab center is a detox center in Dahr al-Bashiq, and longer-term, therapy-based programs are run by private centers or NGOs that are left to do their own fundraising.

“It might be cynicism, because they don’t believe in the judiciary,” Nammour said of the judicial community’s failure to embrace treatment over punishment. “When I talked about the case we won at the [Court of Cassations], I have a lot of people saying ‘how did you do that?’”

“I think faith in the judiciary should be stressed because you can actually achieve a lot if you believe in your cause.”

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi could not be reached for comment.

Lebanon drastically limits Syrian refugee entry

BEIRUT: The number of Syrians entering Lebanon has declined dramatically in recent weeks as the government inches closer toward drafting new policies for its borders.

According to comments made by the Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas, Lebanon is now denying access to Syrians unable to present an exigent “humanitarian” reason for entering the country.

“Lebanon has not totally closed its borders to refugees,” Derbas said in an interview with Voice of Lebanon Sunday. “We are still receiving humanitarian cases, but other reasons for refuge are not being accepted.”

“Anyone who passes the Syrian-Lebanese border will be questioned and should have a humanitarian reason for their entry. This will be decided by the Interior and Social Affairs Ministry,” Derbas said in separate remarks.

The government, however, has not yet established formal guidelines for what constitutes a humanitarian case.

“The criteria are on the table right now,” said a governmental source who wished to remain anonymous. “We do hope that sometime soon this will be clarified.” The source said that in the coming days the government would make “some concrete decisions and adopt some policies” regarding the entry of Syrian refugees.

Lebanon has been struggling to cope with more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees within its borders, who now comprise more than 20 percent of the national population. The government contends that many refugees in Lebanon are so-called economic migrants who are not fleeing violence but rather looking for work. Spurred to action when the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon surpassed 1 million, the government said in May that it would only accept Syrians fleeing active fighting, and that those commuting between Lebanon and Syria would lose their refugee status.

According to a security source, between 1,000 and 2,000 Syrian refugees enter Lebanon through the Massna border crossing each day. Previously, however, that number was as high as 15,000. Border police now turn away approximately 80 percent of Syrians trying to enter the country, he said.

A General Security official told The Daily Star that refugees must hail from areas in Syria witnessing fighting in order to be granted humanitarian access to Lebanon.

“If someone says he wants to seek refuge and he’s coming from Latakia [which is relatively peaceful], we will not let him in,” the source said.

“The measures are stricter now,” he added.

Previously, General Security officials merely asked Syrians where they would be staying in Lebanon before granting an entry visa.

“Now we ask him about his address in Lebanon, where he will be sleeping, who is responsible for him etc. ... If he says that he’s been working in Lebanon for 40 years, for example, we ask him to prove so.”

Moreover, most males between the ages of 16 are 30 are being denied entry to the country, according to a separate security source.

Derbas has expressed increasing alarm over the number of young male refugees in Lebanon who have received military training in Syria, where service in the army is mandatory. More than 100,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon have prior military training and pose a “real threat to internal security” Derbas said Sunday.

The UNHCR has acknowledged the steep decline in Syrians crossing into Lebanon. “Our understanding is that people who are coming to claim refugee status are not being permitted to enter in the way that they were previously,” said Ninette Kelley, the head of UNHCR in Lebanon, in remarks to AFP.

The government, Kelly said, has not explained the criteria it is using to determine if a refugee has a legitimate humanitarian reason to seek refuge in Lebanon.

Qaouk slams March 14 'stubbornness' on Syria

BEIRUT: March 14 figures must stop being stubborn over the Syrian crisis and acknowledge the threat posed to Lebanon by armed rebels, the Deputy Head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council said Sunday.

“Enough of the stubbornness and obstinacy from March 14,” sheikh Nabil Qaouk said during a ceremony in the southern village of Doueir. “We advise them to quit this stubbornness and join the honor of participating in the battle against takfiri aggression targeting the Army and Lebanon.”

Qaouk also slammed his political rivals as irresponsible for making speeches he said incited sectarian tension and violence against the Army. The bloc acts as if the Arsal and Brital raids by jihadists do not represent real threats to the country, he added.

The Hezbollah figure said the attacks on the Lebanese Army were not isolated or individual attacks, but rather the outcome of a foreign decision to exhaust the military.

“Those supporting and protecting takfiri gangs have been unmasked,” Qaouk added. “The same sides that cover and back the takfiri emirate in Roumieh [Prison] are the ones covering and backing takfiri gangs in the north.”

In his verbal attack on March 14 one day after a controversial statement by Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk that blamed Hezbollah for the failure of Lebanon’s security plan, Qaouk said that Hezbollah never needed its rivals’ permission to engage in battles.

“We have never waited for March 14’s permission to do our national, human, sacred duty of defending our people against any takfiri aggression by ISIS or Nusra, or the remnants of what is called the Free [Syrian] Army,” Qaouk said.

Qaouk accused March 14 of keeping ties with Syrian armed rebel groups “while they are attacking Lebanon, performing raids and firing rockets on calm villages.”

“They are all in one trench against the Army and Lebanon,” Qaouk said, in reference to the FSA and the Islamist fundamentalist groups.

Hezbollah fighters have been waging battles alongside Syrian government troops over the past year and a half. The party argues that its intervention in Syria has prevented jihadists from taking over Lebanon.

Their political opponents in the March 14 bloc say Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria has jeopardized the security of Lebanon.

Militants from Nusra earlier this month attacked Hezbollah posts in eastern Lebanon, on the outskirts of the towns of Brital and Nahleh.

It came about two months after the Lebanese Army fought a five-day battle with militants from Nusra and ISIS in the northeastern town of Arsal.

Pharaon: Despite security situation, medical tourists still flock to Lebanon

Derbas: Over 100,000 Syrian refugees received military training

More than 100,000 Syrian refugees received military training in their home country before entering Lebanon, Social...

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Palestinian premier visits Salam

BEIRUT: Prime Minister Tammam Salam met Sunday with his Palestinian counterpart Rami Hamdallah to discuss the political developments in the Arab world and the situation of Palestinians in Lebanon.

Held at Salam’s residence in the Musaytbeh area of Beirut, the meeting was also attended by the Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Abdullah Mustapha, Palestinian Ambassador to Greece Marwan al-Toubasi, and Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Dabbour.

Sources from Rafic Hariri International airport told The Daily Star that Hamdallah and his companions will also pay condolences to the family of Said Khoury, the Palestinian businessman and philanthropist who passed away Thursday at the age of 91.

Khoury was the chairman of the biggest construction company in the Middle East, Consolidated Contracting Company, and previously the head of the Arab Monetary Fund.

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Lebanon flooding forces residents to flee, strands motorists

BEIRUT: Flooding caused by heavy rain swept through homes and disappeared roads across Lebanon early Sunday, causing some panicked residents to seek refuge, while defense forces scrambled to rescue those stranded.

About 50 families from the village of Qarsita in the northern district of Dinnieh had to evacuate their homes overnight because of the floods, the National News Agency reported.

Many homes were inundated with water, mud and rock. The roads to the village were completely blocked by the floods, and only a few entrances were partially reopened Sunday morning.

The heavy rain also caused a water crisis in the area, as springs and streams became contaminated with debris, the NNA added. All the homes were either completely cut off from their water supply, or were receiving polluted water.

Further north, in Akkar, the Lebanese Red Cross relocated dozens of Syrian families from villages and towns damaged by flooding. The Disaster Management Unit of the Red Cross also surveyed the needs of 140 Syrian families and 40 Lebanese families affected by the flooding.

Motorists posted photos of the scenes of the flooding online. One picture posted on the Traffic Management Center’s official Twitter page showed the Antelias-Bikfaya highway covered in soil, rocks and water. Another picture from the area of Joumhour showed cars stuck in pools of water as a giant civil defense forces truck tried to pull them out.

In Mount Lebanon, vehicles were stuck under the Mazraat Yachouh Bridge. Waist-high waters prompted civil defense units to help rescue those stranded.

Northern winter winds coming in from Russia have led to an overall decrease in temperatures as well rainy and stormy weather, according to the meteorology department at Beirut’s international airport.

The department forecast a cloudy Sunday, heavy with rainfall and intermittent storms. Sunday evening is expected to be very windy, which causes elevated sea levels.

However, the weather will improve late Sunday night, as rainfall levels begin to decrease. Regions in the Bekaa Valley and north Lebanon above an altitude of 1,800 meters may witness slight snow fall Sunday night.

Derbas: Over 100,000 Syrian refugees received military training

BEIRUT: More than 100,000 Syrian refugees received military training in their home country before entering Lebanon, Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas said Sunday.

The staggering figure poses “a real threat to internal security," he added, saying that Lebanon can no longer absorb any more refugees.

Speaking to the local radio station Voice of Lebanon 93.3, Derbas said the borders will only remain open to receive special cases.

“Lebanon has not totally closed its borders to refugees,” he said. “We are still receiving humanitarian cases, but other reasons for refuge are not being accepted.”

He commented on the Syrian war, saying that it is not a mere political dispute, but rather an “Arab catastrophe, the burdens of which are being carried by the two smallest states: Lebanon and Jordan.”

Nearly 1.2 million Syrians in Lebanon have registered with the UN refugee agency, but the actual number is thought to be significantly higher.

He condemned attempts to frame the crackdown on militants in Lebanon as a conflict between the Sunni sect and the Army, saying “this is a shameful thing, especially since most of the Army’s martyrs are Sunnis.”

Derbas, a centrist, also backed the Future Movement’s call for the extension, saying that if elections were held in the absence of a president, there would be no one to conduct the consultations and form a Cabinet afterwards.

“Electing a new president is related to internal and external files, especially the crisis in Yemen,” Derbas said, stressing that MP Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has lost all chances of being elected, and the goal is to find an impartial candidate.

Abu Faour condemns counterfeit medical trade

Polio vaccination campaign stays the course

The girl arrived with her brother in tow. Ali, a 5-year-old Syrian refugee, had not been vaccinated against polio yet.

Jumblatt: Army requires absolute backing

BEIRUT: The Army requires absolute political backing to restore security in the country, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt said Sunday, after meeting with a group of of Arab tribal leaders in Khaldeh.

“Before the tanks and airplanes, the Army needs political immunity,” Jumblatt said in the meeting as part of a recent effort to reach out to different communities.

“Let us stand in one position behind the Army, which is engaged in a very harsh battle.”

MPs Akram Chehayeb, Ghazi Aridi, Fouad Saad and Henry Helou accompanied Jumblat during the first visit of Sunday’s tour, as well as the Druze leader’s son Taymur.

Jumblatt greeted the Arab tribe leaders, calling them "the people of glory, generosity, heroism and manhood."

He also lauded their efforts at resisting Israeli attacks on Lebanon during the 1975-1990 civil war.

Jumblatt then headed to the neary town of Aramoun, where he stressed on the need to sustain the good relations between the Druze and their fellow Muslims and Arabs.

"We are not here to simply speak about coxistence, but rather to stress on the common destiny," Jumblatt said, calling on his supporters to establish a total reconciliation with the Arab tribes.

A clash had erupted between the son of Aramoun's mukhtar and members of the Arab tribes two years ago, which increased tension between the two sides. A reconciliation ceremony was held in October 2012, but tensions have remained until the present.

Jumblatt had called in a previous visit to the eastern town of Rashayya on the Druze to go back to their Muslim roots, promising to rebuild the mosque in his hometown Mukhtara which was destroyed during days of aggression between Druze and Muslims.

Machnouk blames Hezbollah for security plan failure

BEIRUT: Hezbollah’s "partisan immunity" has led to the failure of the security plan in Lebanon, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said Saturday, adding that security forces have primarily targeted members of one community.

“We won't accept that we be turned into Sahwa leaders specialized in imposing security on one part of the Lebanese as the other part enjoys 'partisan immunity',” Mashnouk said, referring to the Sahwa network of Sunni tribal fighters allied with the United States to combat al-Qaida in Iraq.

The security plan has been turned into a project that holds perpetrators of one community accountable while neglecting the others, the interior minister said, hinting that the plan’s implementation targets predominantly Sunni communities and turns a blind eye to Hezbollah-dominated area.

Alluding to the powerful movement, Machnouk said that the group was disrupting the security plan by “increasing the feelings of injustice and frustration which in turn also increases extremism.” The security plan’s failure results from “political reasons,” Machnouk said.

In another reference to Hezbollah, the interior minister said that “a Lebanese group considers its abilities to be greater than Lebanon but the hefty price of those abilities must be paid by all the Lebanese.”

Speaking during a memorial service in honor of the late ISF information branch head Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan who was killed in a Beirut car bomb two years ago, Machnouk added that “he was on the verge of discovering the truth behind the assassination.”

Hezbollah came under fire by several prominent March 14 figures, including Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi last week, who claimed that Hezbollah was implicated in the attacks on Army positions in the northern port city. Hezbollah rejected the claims, and accused the perpetrators of being close allies of the Future Movement, saying the party has supplied the necessary legal cover to prevent their trials.

Renewed tensions in Tripoli has disrupted the relative stability achieved since the implementation of a security plan in April to restore law and order to the city, which has witnessed a series of deadly clashes over the past several years between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Salam wary over Lebanon's future: report

Army arrests suspect in Arsal clashes

The Lebanese Army detains a Syrian man accused of involvement in the deadly August clashes with militants in the...

Army arrests suspect in Arsal clashes

Army arrests suspect in Arsal clashes

The Lebanese Army detains a Syrian man accused of involvement in the deadly August clashes with militants in the...