Commentators can’t get enough of Manaf

The defection of a senior Syrian official, Manaf Tlas, from the Assad camp is widely covered by Arabic media on the weekend.

Saudi-owned daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat reports Sunday the first defection of senior officer in the country’s General Intelligence (Mukhabarat), Colonel Hassan Latouf, from the town of Manbij near Aleppo. The daily displays a photo of a demonstrator near Damascus holding up a sign that reads “If our children were to bleed oil, the world would intervene immediately.” The article also leads with Kofi Annan’s admission of failure in Syria, calling for the inclusion of Iran in efforts to solve the Syrian impasse.

London-based daily Al-Hayat focuses on the spillover of Syria’s unrest into neighboring Lebanon.The daily reports firing from Syria into the Lebanese border region of Wadi Khaled, killing three and wounding 10 inside Lebanon over the weekend. The article features a photo of a wounded child, her head bandaged, being held by her mother, both with blood-stained clothing.

The defection of Tlas, one of Assad’s closest confidants, affected the deliberations of the “Friends of Syria” in Paris Friday, reports London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi. Russia and China, which boycotted the conference, denied American and Western accusations that it is supporting the Assad regime, the daily reports.

“The defection of Manaf Tlas is an earthquake and blow to the heart of the regime,” writes A-Sharq Al-Awsat editor-in-chief Tareq Homayed. “Oppressive regimes like Assad’s cannot stand any harm to their artificial prestige, so how could the defection of Assad’s childhood friend be meaningless?” asks Homayed, responding to a Syrian official who claimed the defection was insignificant.

“Is Tlas the president of the new Syria?” asks Abd Al-Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of Al-Quds Al-Arabi. He claims that Tlas’s flight to France is suspicious in light of the 17 security agencies that oversee every movement in Syria.

“There are many theories, and some say the escape was part of a French scenario which is preparing Tlas to succeed Assad as president of Syria,” writes Atwan. He claims that Tlas would be considered a fine candidate for president as he is a Sunni Muslim, has military experience, and comes from the region of Homs, one of the rebels’ hotbeds.

Libya votes, for the first time

The parliamentary elections in Libya, the first free elections in the country’s history, are widely covered by Arab press Sunday.

Al-Hayat calls the elections “an electoral wedding,” noting that this is the first vote in half a century. Some 100 voting stations were not opened in the east, especially in the city of Benghazi which supports a federal Libya, but the daily notes that this did not affect the overall outcome, as voting in the other 1,454 stations went forward as planned. The daily displays a photo of smiling women standing in line to vote.

A-Sharq Al-Awsat notes that Libyans came to vote in droves, as 94% of voting station remained open. The daily features a photo of a woman in Benghazi casting her ballot as another female monitor stands by and oversees the vote.

Dubai-based news channel Al-Arabiya reports that some 60% of Libyan voters turned out on election day, with preliminary results showing a strong lead for the National Alliance, a non-Islamist coalition led by former transitional prime minister Mahmoud Jibril. According to the channel, Jibril has a strong following in the country’s west, where the majority of the population resides.