Lebanon's Arabic Press Digest - Sept.6, 2014
The following are a selection of stories from Lebanese newspapers that may be of interest to Daily Star readers.
Saturday, 6 September 2014
Iron Dome would not cope with Hezbollah missiles: report
BEIRUT: Israel’s Iron Dome Defense System would not be able to cope with Hezbollah’s precision rockets in any future war, an officer in the Israeli army has said, while warning that the next conflict with the resistance group would be “very violent.”
In a report broadcast by Israel’s Channel 2, Col. Dan Goldfus said that Israelis needed to know that a war with Hezbollah would be “a whole different story,” than the recent war Israel waged on Gaza.
“We will need to move quickly and flexibly,” he said.
The report said that Israel estimated that Hezbollah had about 100,000 rockets, with most of them hidden in south Lebanon but with long-range missiles in Beirut capable of carrying large warheads of up to 1 ton.
The missiles in Beirut are equipped with precision guidance systems and can reach all of Israel, which would make it difficult for the Iron Dome missile defense system to deal with them as successfully as the less sophisticated rockets used by Hamas during the Gaza war.
The report also spoke of repeated concerns that Hezbollah had dug tunnels along the border with Israel, saying residents had reported noise under their houses.
Goldfus did not rule out the possibility of Hezbollah digging tunnels, saying that the Israeli army was concerned over the matter in light of recent tunnels unearthed and later destroyed by Israel in Gaza.
In any future war, Goldfus said: “We will have to use considerable force” to quickly prevail over the Hezbollah, “to act more decisively, more drastically." - with Anadolu
Weekly Address: Time to Give the Middle Class a Chance
Vice President Joe Biden tapes the Weekly Address in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Sept. 5, 2014. September 5, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
In this week’s address, the Vice President discusses our continued economic recovery, with 10 million private sector jobs created over 54 straight months of job creation. Yet even with this good news, too many Americans are still not seeing the effects of our recovery.
As the Vice President explains, there’s more that can be done to continue to bolster our economy and ensure that middle class families benefit from the growth they helped create, including closing tax loopholes, expanding education opportunities, and raising the minimum wage.
Transcript | mp4 | mp3
Greek premier eyes growth for 1st time in 8 years
ATHENS, Greece -- Greece's economy is expected to expand in the third quarter for the first time in eight years, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said Saturday.
In a speech in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, Samaras hailed what he said was an "unprecedented success" in getting the heavily indebted country out of its deepest ever financial crisis.
"In a couple of years, we have made more reforms than in previous decades," he said, referring to his tenure as prime minister.
Before agreeing to support a coalition government with the socialists in November 2011, conservative leader Samaras had opposed many of the austerity measures he later embraced wholeheartedly.
Samaras promised a 30 percent reduction in the taxation of heating oil, reversing a measure imposed in 2012 which failed to bring added revenue and adversely affected the environment. He also said he would lighten the burden of a much decried property tax based on property values from before the crisis.
The Greek premier also said he will set up a development fund to help small and medium firms and will cut power prices for industries.
Samaras said it is impossible to bring wages and pensions up to pre-crisis levels but promised raises for military and police personnel, seen as a conservative-friendly constituency.
Samaras was speaking at the opening of the Thessaloniki International Fair, a traditional venue for Greek leaders to announce the coming year's economic policy.
The Greek premier also hailed what he said was a success in reforming health, social security and education by cutting excessive spending and combatting fraud.
Anti-government protests, a usual staple of the Thessaloniki fair, will take place Saturday but are expected to be milder than in previous years. Nonetheless, 4,000 policemen are ready and there has been a ban on protests near the fair grounds.
Biden promotes economics for nation's middle class
WASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden says the August jobs report, which underwhelmed many economists, is another step forward in the nation's economic recovery.
The economy generated only 142,000 jobs, the fewest in eight months.
In the weekly White House radio and Internet address, Biden says job growth continues but warns that the wages of middle-class Americans are being left behind other indicators of economic growth.
Biden says it's long past time to, quote, "cut the middle class back into the deal."
He says doing that requires a fair tax structure that values paychecks as much as unearned income and inherited wealth.
In the Republican address, the GOP candidate for Senate in Alaska, Dan Sullivan, says the federal government is an obstacle to progress in his state — and calls that a national problem, too.
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Online:
White House address: http://1.usa.gov/1fxQMoK
Republican address: http://bit.ly/1myUoWD
UNIFIL organizes friendly football game with victims of land mines
TEIR DIBA, Lebanon: Korean peacekeepers organized a friendly football match with victims of land mine explosions in south Lebanon in a bid to give them some hope to overcome their tragedies.
The Korean contingent with the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon organized the football match with the Lebanese Welfare Association for the Handicapped at the former's headquarters in Deir Diba.
The head of the Korean contingent said the purpose of the game was to bring people together and enjoy a friendly game.
The game also seeks to raise awareness about land mines and their victims. Prior to the start of the game, the Korean contingent presented a traditional military parade that included a tae kwon do performance.
From 1978 to 2000, Israel left behind tens of thousands of mines planted along the border and in farms. In 2006, Israel also dropped thousands of cluster bombs on various southern towns and villages.
UNIFIL, the Lebanese Army and several Lebanese organizations work to clear the southern region of land mines that have killed many people and wounded hundreds including peacekeepers and landmine sweepers.
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Equating Iran with Islamists ignorance: Hezbollah
BEIRUT: Equating the radical movements with Wilayat al-Faqih is pure ignorance and stems from disappointment that such extremist groups are unable to destroy the resistance group, Minister of State Mohammad Fneish said Saturday.
“Some of the stances by people in Lebanon represent either complete ignorance or disappointment because the Takfiri forces failed in achieving those people’s goals and wishes,” Fneish, awho represents Hezbollah in the Cabinet, said during a ceremony in south Lebanon.
“We accept people discussing with us the issue of Wilayat al-Faqih if they knew what they were talking about and the achievements it has made in Lebanon’s interest,” he said.
“We also accept discussions about our behavior, which is derived from our commitment to the Wilayat as well as our beliefs and understandings.”
Under the Wilayat al-Faqih doctrine, which was introduced in Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the supreme ayatollah, or highest religious authority, has final say in political matters as well as religious.
Supporters of the March 14 coalition have ridiculed Hezbollah’s role in Syria to fight the rise of radical groups such as te Nusra Front and ISIS, saying that both the party and the Islamist forces seek to establish similar goals.
“Equating between the criminal, takfiri forces and Wilayat al-Faqih is pure ignorance and represents their rage because they have lost bets on Israel and these takfiri forces destroying the resistance,” Fneish said.
Hezbollah has remained evasive about its adherence to Wilayat al-Faqih and support for the establishment of an Islamic state in Lebanon inspired by that doctrine.
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