Aoun: Hezbollah-Future dialogue not my business

BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun said the long-awaited dialogue between the leaders of Hezbollah and the Future Movement was of no concern to him.

“I’m not interested in the dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah as long as I’m not invited,” Aoun said in remarks published Thursday by local newspaper Al-Akhbar.

“I will watch and observe,” he said of the dialogue which is expected to take place this month.

Aoun said the Hezbollah-Future dialogue aims to defuse Sunni-Shiite tension and not designed to tackle key issues facing Lebanon, such as the presidential election or a new electoral law.

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Lebanon declares open-ended war with jihadi militants

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi has declared an open-ended war with Islamist militants on the Syria border after seven soldiers were killed in recent attacks.

“Our battle with terrorism and terrorists is an open-ended war, and we expect it to be a war of attrition, especially after we penetrated deep into the outskirts and remote zones,” Kahwagi said in comments published Thursday by local daily An-Nahar.

Kahwagi indicated that Islamist extremist groups – ISIS and Nusra Front – had been shaken up by the Army’s “pre-emptive strikes.”

“It the terrorists are now responding to the Army’s pre-emptive strikes against them, these strikes were many and there will be more and consistent pre-emptive strikes,” Kahwagi warned the jihadists.

Kahwagi, however, evaded a direct response when asked whether the militants’ recent deadly attacks against the Lebanese Army were linked to the arrest of Saja Dulaimi, the ex-wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi.

"The woman was arrested 15 days ago after intense monitoring that began two months ago; and our goal was to confirm her identity."

Kahwagi also would not link recent attacks against the Army in northeast Lebanon to Dulaimi’s detention.

"Terrorist organizations are not a classical army and we except everything from this enemy,” he said, adding that the Army had dealt several hard blows to jihadists.

Kahwagi vowed that the Army strikes against extremist militants will continue “until they are defeated no matter how long.”

“We are not weak at all. We are strong. We are troopers. For each blow we receive we respond with 100 blows. We will defeat them no matter the sacrifices.”

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Future-Hezbollah dialogue on front burner, expected this month

BEIRUT: Preparations have been stepped up to launch a long-awaited dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah deemed essential for easing Sunni-Shiite tensions and facilitating the election of a consensus president.

Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk Wednesday joined Speaker Nabih Berri and lawmakers from the two rival parties in voicing optimism about the outcome of the talks between the Future Movement and Hezbollah, whose strained ties have heightened political and sectarian tensions and sometimes put the country on edge.

Berri was quoted by MPs who saw him during his weekly meeting with lawmakers in Ain al-Tineh as saying that the dialogue he has been seeking between Hezbollah and the Future Movement was on the right path.

“Matters are headed toward preparatory steps to start it [dialogue],” Berri said.

Machnouk, a key figure in the Future Movement, said he was optimistic about the outcome of the dialogue, adding that this dialogue should be given “a real chance.”

“The dialogue with Hezbollah will produce results. This dialogue can protect a minimum of national unity,” Machnouk said in an interview with MTV station Wednesday night. He said national unity was needed to face challenges of the next stage.

Machnouk said the first topics on the dialogue agenda are the prevention of sectarian strife in Lebanon and the possibility of reaching an understanding on “a consensus president.” He said he was hopeful about the election of a new president in the first six months of next year.

Hezbollah MP Nawar Saheli told MTV after meeting Berri: “I am optimistic [about the dialogue]. We have always extended our hand for dialogue and we are not setting any preconditions.” He said he expected talks between the two parties to begin soon.

MP Qassem Hashem from Berri’s parliamentary bloc also voiced optimism about the results of the planned Future-Hezbollah dialogue which he expected to begin in the first half of this month.

“The dialogue will have a positive impact, reduce tensions and open the door to a serious national debate over all divisive issues,” Hashem told the Voice of Lebanon radio station.

Future MP Ammar Houri said the dialogue with Hezbollah has entered “the phase of technical preparations in order to ensure its success.”

“The results of the dialogue depended on the conviction of everyone of the need to ensure its success by approaching it with objective and logical expectations,” he told the Voice of Lebanon radio station.

Houri said the proposed dialogue stood a good chance of success if the two parties agreed that the situation in Lebanon was serious due to the turmoil in the region and that the vacancy in the presidency seat was a grave development. In a development signaling a speeding up of the dialogue process, Nader Hariri, chief of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s staff, met Tuesday with Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, a political aide to Berri, to discuss agenda proposals for the Future-Hezbollah talks.

Nader Hariri and Future MP Jamal Jarrah will represent their party in the dialogue, while Hezbollah will be represented by Hussein Khalil, a political aide to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, and a party lawmaker.

Meanwhile, the Council of Maronite Bishops slammed lawmakers for failing to elect a president over the past six months while they showed up in Parliament on Nov. 5 to extend their mandate for two years and seven months.

“The bishops are surprised that Parliament had been able to renew its mandate in violation of the Constitution and the democratic system, and at the same time failed to elect a president contrary to what is stipulated by the Constitution,” said a statement issued at the end of the bishops’ monthly meeting, chaired by Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai in Bkirki.

“Is the danger of the vacancy in the presidency seat less serious than that of a Parliament vacuum?” the bishops asked.

They reiterated their call on lawmakers to respect the Constitution and elect a president rather than wait for “regional and international signals or a Christian consensus.”

Machnouk says girl in custody is Baghdadi’s daughter

BEIRUT: Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said Wednesday that DNA samples of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been matched with one of the three children who are currently being held by Lebanese authorities, suspected of being related to the jihadi chief.

Machnouk said DNA samples, which were sent over by Iraqi authorities earlier this week, matched samples taken from three children who were detained alongside Saja Hamid al-Dulaimi, Baghdadi’s ex-wife.

Machnouk revealed that Dulaimi had married Baghdadi for three months six years ago and they had a daughter together. The ISIS leader’s DNA matched with that of Dulaimi’s daughter, Machnouk said.

The DNA tests taken from Dulaimi also proved that she was the mother of the three children – one girl and two boys, a source in the investigation told The Daily Star.

Machnouk said the two boys and the girl were not incarcerated but were rather staying at a specialized care center. Dulaimi was detained as she has links with jihadi groups.

Dulaimi is currently married to a Palestinian, according to Machnouk.

However, Iraq’s Interior Ministry said that the woman detained by Lebanese authorities was not the wife of ISIS leader Baghdadi, but the sister of a man convicted of bombings in southern Iraq.“The one detained by Lebanese authorities was Saja Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi, sister of Omar Abdul Hamid al-Dulaimi, who has been detained by authorities and sentenced to death for his participation in ... explosions,” ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Saad Maan said.

“The wives of the terrorist Baghdadi are Asmaa Fawzi Mohammad al-Dulaimi and Esraa Rajab Mahel al-Qaisi, and there is no wife in the name of Saja al-Dulaimi,” he said.

According to The Daily Star’s source, the Iraqi statement was based on the fact that official records did not list Dulaimi as one of Baghdadi’s wives

Dulami was detained in north Lebanon after she was found to have a fake passport, officials said. Investigators are questioning her at the Lebanese Defense Ministry.

Army ready to confront militants

BAALBEK, Lebanon: The Lebanese Army is in “good situation” and ready to confront terrorist groups on the frontier with Syria, a senior military source told The Daily Star Wednesday, one day after six soldiers were slain in an ambush by Islamist militants on the northeastern border.

The source’s remarks also came hours after a seventh soldier was killed and two others wounded while trying to dismantle a bomb on the outskirts of Arsal.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said that the Army had its own plan to confront the militants holed up in the northeastern mountainous region, describing the military’s situation as “good.”

“We are ready, but you know it is difficult to know of an ambush ahead of time,” the source said.

The six soldiers were killed when their vehicle was ambushed on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek, northeast Lebanon. The affiliations of the militants were not immediately known. But the Army has routinely clashed with jihadi militants from both the Nusra Front and ISIS on the eastern and northeastern border.

Security sources told The Daily Star that the Army raided the site of Tuesday’s attack and arrested more than 10 militants who were said to be of Lebanese and Syrian nationalities. But the source denied that the military had made any arrests.

Earlier Wednesday, the Army, backed by airborne forces, fired artillery shells at militant hideouts along the Syrian border near the area.

Also Wednesday, the Army said that Adjutant Mahmoud Noureddine was killed and two other soldiers wounded as they approached a bomb to dismantle it on the outskirts of Arsal. A military statement said that the wounds of the two soldiers were not serious.

Meanwhile, grief and pain gripped residents in the north and the Bekaa Valley, where the six slain soldiers were laid to rest in their respective villages.

Mourners opened fire in the air in an expression of sorrow as they received the body of Mohammad Sleiman in his Tripoli neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen.

“Welcome martyr! I am celebrating his wedding day today,” Sleiman’s bereaved mother said, as she kissed his military uniform and boots.

Thousands also took part in the funeral of Ali Mohammad, who was buried in the Akkar village of Hadsheet. Rabih Hoda was laid to rest in his village of Ayyat in the same qada.

Similar feelings were evident in the Bekaa Valley, where residents of the Zahle village of Ali al-Nahri buried soldier Mashhad Sharafeddine.

The funeral of soldier Ali Yazbek was held in the village of Hosh al-Rafqa, while Mohammad Sleem was laid to rest in Boudai.

Politicians from across the political spectrum condemned Tuesday’s attack and expressed their full solidarity with the Army.

MPs attending the weekly meeting of Speaker Nabih Berri with lawmakers quoted him as strongly denouncing the ambush, highlighting the need to equip the Army with everything it needed. Berri called on the Lebanese to embrace the Army in its battle against terrorism, stressing that the military was protecting the country and preserving its stability. Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri telephoned Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi to extend his condolences and express his firm support for the Lebanese Army in its bid to crush the terrorists.

Hezbollah MP Hussein Musawi slammed the attack, saying that it targeted all the Lebanese.

In a statement, Musawi called for the Army to be given full backing while it pursued militants violating the sovereignty of Lebanese border villages and committing massacres.

He said that rejecting military aid for the Army from friendly states was an unforgivable crime against the nation, a reference to a controversial offer of Iranian assistance that the Lebanese government has not yet accepted.

Defense Minister Samir Moqbel also mourned the loss of the seven soldiers.

According to Moqbel, the militants resorted to “this dishonorable and cowardly method after experiencing the strength, toughness and determination of the Army.”

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian stressed that the attack against the Army was an aggression against all of Lebanon.

In comments made in Cairo, where he is attending a conference, Derian said: “The Lebanese Army is the country’s security valve, and any targeting of its members is a criminal and terrorist act that is not approved by any religion.”

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly joined in the condemnations of the attack.

According to a statement released by his press office, Plumbly paid tribute to the determination and dedication shown by the Lebanese Army in its efforts to maintain security and stability, and underlined the commitment of the U.N. and the international community to support the Army.

The French Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack, repeating its support for Lebanon and its institutions.

Lebanese Forces MP Fadi Karam said that terrorists would fail to prove that the Lebanese Army was unable to protect Lebanon’s borders and MP Talal Arslan also said the Army should receive unconditional support from all the Lebanese.

Separately, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said that winning the freedom of at least 26 servicemen captured by ISIS and the Nusra Front was not happening anytime soon.

“This is an issue that will require a lot of time and will not be resolved soon,” Machnouk said during an interview with MTV television station.

The minister said that Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the head of the General Security, was officially handling negotiations to release the security personnel.

“There are also negotiations carried out by Health Minister Wael Abu Faour. Nobody else [other than these two] is involved in the negotiations and this issue is being followed upon closely,” he said.

Machnouk said that security services were coordinating on a daily basis over the case, adding that a Syrian mediator appointed by Qatar was still carrying out his job.

Machnouk confirmed that fugitive Shadi Mawlawi, an Islamist who fought deadly battles against the Army in Tripoli in October, had fled to the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in Sidon.

Army ready to confront militants

BAALBEK, Lebanon: The Lebanese Army is in “good situation” and ready to confront terrorist groups on the frontier with Syria, a senior military source told The Daily Star Wednesday, one day after six soldiers were slain in an ambush by Islamist militants on the northeastern border.

The source’s remarks also came hours after a seventh soldier was killed and two others wounded while trying to dismantle a bomb on the outskirts of Arsal.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said that the Army had its own plan to confront the militants holed up in the northeastern mountainous region, describing the military’s situation as “good.”

“We are ready, but you know it is difficult to know of an ambush ahead of time,” the source said.

The six soldiers were killed when their vehicle was ambushed on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek, northeast Lebanon. The affiliations of the militants were not immediately known. But the Army has routinely clashed with jihadi militants from both the Nusra Front and ISIS on the eastern and northeastern border.

Security sources told The Daily Star that the Army raided the site of Tuesday’s attack and arrested more than 10 militants who were said to be of Lebanese and Syrian nationalities. But the source denied that the military had made any arrests.

Earlier Wednesday, the Army, backed by airborne forces, fired artillery shells at militant hideouts along the Syrian border near the area.

Also Wednesday, the Army said that Adjutant Mahmoud Noureddine was killed and two other soldiers wounded as they approached a bomb to dismantle it on the outskirts of Arsal. A military statement said that the wounds of the two soldiers were not serious.

Meanwhile, grief and pain gripped residents in the north and the Bekaa Valley, where the six slain soldiers were laid to rest in their respective villages.

Mourners opened fire in the air in an expression of sorrow as they received the body of Mohammad Sleiman in his Tripoli neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen.

“Welcome martyr! I am celebrating his wedding day today,” Sleiman’s bereaved mother said, as she kissed his military uniform and boots.

Thousands also took part in the funeral of Ali Mohammad, who was buried in the Akkar village of Hadsheet. Rabih Hoda was laid to rest in his village of Ayyat in the same qada.

Similar feelings were evident in the Bekaa Valley, where residents of the Zahle village of Ali al-Nahri buried soldier Mashhad Sharafeddine.

The funeral of soldier Ali Yazbek was held in the village of Hosh al-Rafqa, while Mohammad Sleem was laid to rest in Boudai.

Politicians from across the political spectrum condemned Tuesday’s attack and expressed their full solidarity with the Army.

MPs attending the weekly meeting of Speaker Nabih Berri with lawmakers quoted him as strongly denouncing the ambush, highlighting the need to equip the Army with everything it needed. Berri called on the Lebanese to embrace the Army in its battle against terrorism, stressing that the military was protecting the country and preserving its stability. Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri telephoned Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi to extend his condolences and express his firm support for the Lebanese Army in its bid to crush the terrorists.

Hezbollah MP Hussein Musawi slammed the attack, saying that it targeted all the Lebanese.

In a statement, Musawi called for the Army to be given full backing while it pursued militants violating the sovereignty of Lebanese border villages and committing massacres.

He said that rejecting military aid for the Army from friendly states was an unforgivable crime against the nation, a reference to a controversial offer of Iranian assistance that the Lebanese government has not yet accepted.

Defense Minister Samir Moqbel also mourned the loss of the seven soldiers.

According to Moqbel, the militants resorted to “this dishonorable and cowardly method after experiencing the strength, toughness and determination of the Army.”

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian stressed that the attack against the Army was an aggression against all of Lebanon.

In comments made in Cairo, where he is attending a conference, Derian said: “The Lebanese Army is the country’s security valve, and any targeting of its members is a criminal and terrorist act that is not approved by any religion.”

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly joined in the condemnations of the attack.

According to a statement released by his press office, Plumbly paid tribute to the determination and dedication shown by the Lebanese Army in its efforts to maintain security and stability, and underlined the commitment of the U.N. and the international community to support the Army.

The French Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack, repeating its support for Lebanon and its institutions.

Lebanese Forces MP Fadi Karam said that terrorists would fail to prove that the Lebanese Army was unable to protect Lebanon’s borders and MP Talal Arslan also said the Army should receive unconditional support from all the Lebanese.

Separately, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said that winning the freedom of at least 26 servicemen captured by ISIS and the Nusra Front was not happening anytime soon.

“This is an issue that will require a lot of time and will not be resolved soon,” Machnouk said during an interview with MTV television station.

The minister said that Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the head of the General Security, was officially handling negotiations to release the security personnel.

“There are also negotiations carried out by Health Minister Wael Abu Faour. Nobody else [other than these two] is involved in the negotiations and this issue is being followed upon closely,” he said.

Machnouk said that security services were coordinating on a daily basis over the case, adding that a Syrian mediator appointed by Qatar was still carrying out his job.

Machnouk confirmed that fugitive Shadi Mawlawi, an Islamist who fought deadly battles against the Army in Tripoli in October, had fled to the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in Sidon.

Panel agrees on how to address vote law, but rift lingers on two proposals

BEIRUT: A parliamentary subcommittee tasked with examining a raft of draft electoral laws agreed Wednesday on a mechanism to address the issue on the basis of proportional representation and a winner-takes-all system.

Wednesday’s was the fifth meeting held by the 11-member subcommittee, made up of March 8 and March 14 lawmakers, since MPs from rival blocs extended Parliament’s mandate for two years and seven months on Nov. 5.

Despite five rounds of deliberations, the members remain split over two key electoral proposals.

A proposal presented by MP Ali Bazzi from Speaker Nabih Berri’s parliamentary bloc that calls for electing half of Parliament’s 128 members on the basis of proportional representation and the other half according to the winner-takes-all system.

A counterproposal was put forward by the Future Movement and supported by its Christian ally, the Lebanese Forces, which calls for electing 68 lawmakers on the basis of proportional representation and 60 lawmakers according to the winner-takes-all system.

MP Marwan Hamade, who missed the last two meetings because he was out of Lebanon, attended Wednesday’s session, while Kataeb MP Sami Gemayel did not attend because he was on a trip abroad.

The panel was given a one-month deadline that expires at the end of December to agree on a unified electoral draft law to replace the 1960 system deemed unfair by the Christian community.

“Committee members have agreed on a mechanism to address the electoral issue on the basis of proportional [representation] and a winner-takes-all system,” MP Robert Ghanem, who chaired the subcommittee’s talks, told reporters after the meeting held in Parliament.

Ghanem, the head of the Parliamentary Justice and Administration Committee, said the panel’s talks were based on Berri’s electoral proposal presented by Bazzi which, he said, did not differ much from the draft law submitted by other parliamentary blocs, which calls for electing 68 lawmakers on the basis of proportional representation and 60 lawmakers according to the winner-takes-all system.

According to Ghanem, Hamadeh, who represents MP Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party in the subcommittee, upheld his support for the Future-LF proposal.

“After it has been studied, it turned out that there are no big differences between this [Future-LF] proposal and Speaker Berri’s proposal,” Ghanem said. “Therefore, we said we have made two steps forward pending the next session.”

He added that the subcommittee would meet at 10 a.m. next Wednesday to continue its discussions on a new electoral law.

Ghanem has said the subcommittee was not a decision-making body because the final decision would be made by Parliament’s General Assembly by the end of December.

Hamade told the subcommittee that the PSP supported the Future-LF electoral proposal, which makes the Chouf mountain and the town of Aley one electoral district while retaining Baabda, the Metn, Kesrouan and Jbeil as one district.

However, Berri’s proposal divides Mount Lebanon into two electoral districts: One that includes the Chouf, Aley and Baabda, and the other that includes the Metn, Kesrouan and Jbeil.

When Hamade highlighted the special stature of the Druze community in the Chouf mountain, the Free Patriotic Movement, the Marada Movement and the Tashnag Party raised the special stature of Armenians in Beirut by demanding that the Al-Mudawar area be separated from Bashoura and joined with Ashrafieh, Rmeil and Saifi.

LF MP George Adwan voiced fears that some lawmakers might use the objection of other lawmakers to a new electoral law in order to retain the 1960 system.

MP Alain Aoun from MP Michel Aoun’s FPM linked his party’s agreement to a new electoral law to an interpretation of Article 24 in the Constitution pertaining to equality in parliamentary representation between Muslims and Christians.

Michel Aoun has asked Berri for a Parliament session to interpret Article 24 before discussing any electoral law.

Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad, a subcommittee member, said his party was dealing seriously with attempts to agree on a new electoral law. But he warned against “selectivity” in addressing the special stature of sects “because it would be difficult then to reach an agreement.”