Press divided on Hariri tribunal

The Lebanese press is divided over UN Security Council Resolution 1757 which will set up an international tribunal on Rafik Hariri's killing.

Opposition-affiliated papers are critical, with one saying that the resolution undermines the country's own institutions.

However, one pro-government paper says that the tribunal is the strongest message yet from the UN to those responsible for political killings in Lebanon and the region.

OPPOSITION PAPER AL-AKHBAR

After Lebanon's southern borders were placed under the custody of the UN, in accordance with a previous resolution, another resolution to expand its tasks towards Lebanon's northern and eastern borders is now in the making... This new resolution declares, from the highest international authority, that the Lebanese institutions of all branches, legislative, executive and judiciary, are incompetent.

OPPOSITION-AFFILIATED PAPER AL-SAFIR

Lebanon entered a new stage yesterday... At a time when the country is still facing sharp political division over many months, a resolution is issued which is also politically divisive. Security Council members are also divided because five members abstained.

OPPOSITION DAILY AL-DIYAR

Lebanon has entered a fateful phase because international whims on the tribunal are unknown. It is true that the international tribunal was endorsed on the request of the majority in Lebanon but surely Washington led the campaign to endorse it...

AL-HARIRI OWNED NEWSPAPER AL-MUSTAQBAL

The international tribunal... has emerged in New York after the doors of parliament were shut to prevent its establishment in Lebanese constitutional institutions... The tribunal aims to protect Lebanon from decade-long terrorism and political assassinations and expresses international solidarity.

PRO-GOVERNMENT PAPER AL-NAHAR

Resolution 1757 is the strongest message that the Security Council sends to the forces of terrorism and extremism in Lebanon and the region.

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