Category Archives: Arab World

My Cultural Shock of Hezbollah

24 Friday May 2013

Posted by in Arab Spring, LB Politics, Lebanon, Politics, Syria

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If I want to draft my cultural shock caused by Hezbollah on a chart, it would look to be at its peak now.

May be that shock started mildly in 2005 when Hassan Nasrallah thanked Bashar Al-Assad in public on March 8, just after the Lebanese protests at the time helped to push a foreign Arab army off the national soil.

Then the dramatic political events that caused the deadlock in the country afterwards pushed this chart up. Then it spiked around May 7th 2008 when Hezbollah attacked Beirut and Mount Lebanon for whatever reasons. Now, the chart is heading to infinity with Hezbollah’s fight in Syria.

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The Story of Ziad Rahbani, The Lebanese Left and The Syrian Moukhabarat

01 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by in Arab Spring, Arab World, LB Politics, Lebanon, Media Monitoring, TV

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I am from a generation who loved Ziad Rahbani, growing up with his music, songs, shows, plays and ‘revolutionary’ appearances and quotes like most of the youth of my time.

I can nearly recite all his plays, which I think they were masterpieces and will be engraved in our cultural heritage. I can never forget Joseph Sakr’s great songs in Sahriyyeh, the revolution of Abbas and Fahed in Nazl el sourour (which suits our current mood by the way), the social struggles of both Thurayya and Zakariya in Bennesbe La Boukra Shou, the Western conspiracy and our sectarian disease in Film Ameriki Taweel, the broken Lebanese society in Shi Fashel and the stubborn Lebanese people in his last series of Bikhsous el Karameh wel Shaab el Aaneed and Lawla Fos’hat el Amal. I adore his music and songs whether were part of his plays or not. He composed the greatest music and anthems, not exhaustively, but I mention Mays el Reem, Prelude 83, Abou Ali, People’s Winds and The Revolution Anthem.

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The Washington Post Explains to Angry Jewish Readers It’s Truthful to Show Palestinians Die

25 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by in Arab World, Foreign Policy, Media Monitoring, Other Arab issues, Press, USA, World

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The photo of the Palestinian BBC journalist Jihad Masharawi holding his 11-month-old son’s body has gained big exposure at the start of the Israeli war on Gaza ten days ago. It featured on the front page of the Washington Post among other press and media outlets on 14th and 15th November 2012.

But some Jewish and American groups, of course, saw it differently when they protested by writing to the ombudsman and to Post editors that the photo was “biased”.

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Barack Obama Steals Our Lebanese Hummous Too

01 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by in Arab World, Foreign Policy, LB Culture, Lebanon, Other Arab issues, USA, World

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Barack Obama can stand for the presidency of Israel if he wishes. He can also compete to be their loyal gatekeeper, but he can’t…steal our food for that purpose. Never.

Yes, our food! It’s even more outrageous he came near our beloved Hummus, ignoring our regional Hummous war.

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Wissam Al-Hassan Joins The Assassination Saga

20 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by in Arab World, LB Politics, Lebanon, Media Monitoring, Other Arab issues, Press

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Here we go again. Another Lebanese national figure and innocent people are wasted. Together with reportedly eight others, the head of the Information Branch in the Internal Security Forces (police) in Lebanon Wissam Al-Hassan have been assassinated yesterday in a street bomb in Achrafieh in Beirut.

Early on, I warned and speculated that Saad Hariri could pay a high price for his leading involvement in Syria, and it may now be the payback time. And I feel we are just at the start of something bigger.

Sadly we got used to this terrorist method of political elimination since 2004. This is the 26th political explosion since then, with most ending as assassinations. Ten of these 26 explosions targeted anti-Syrian regime figures, two targeted Information Branch figures (anti-Syrian regime), other ten targeted areas largely known to be Christian, three targeted the Lebanese Army including a military chief, and one explosion targeted a non-leading but senior official in a pro-Syrian party.

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Did You Say Tishreen Liberation War?

06 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by in Arab World, Foreign Policy, Other Arab issues, Politics, Syria, USA, World

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The Syrian regime and its media always make sure they supply us with the most bizarre scenes, and they are surely doing it today on 6th October.

Today is the 39th anniversary of the ‘Tishreen liberation war’ or the 1973 October war between Syria and Egypt on one side, and Israel on the other. Syrian state today is celebrating the victory of this liberation war.

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Let’s Welcome The Salafists to Politics

30 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by in Arab Spring, Arab World, LB Politics, Lebanon, Politics

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A new addition is expected to the Lebanese political scene, which would seriously contribute to its contrasting colourfulness. Apparently, Lebanese Salafists are looking to establish a political party to participate in the 2013 electoral elections and the beyond scene.

This could a bit advanced for them considering they don’t usually recognise post-Caliphates states, so some internal rifts within their movement is possible.

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The Right Response to The Anti-Islam Movie

16 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by in Arab World, LB Culture, Lebanon, Other Arab issues, The rest of the world, World

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I didn’t intend to comment on that anti-Islam and anti-Prophet movie originated somewhere in California, but seeing the reaction it caused makes it difficult for me not to be involved. The movie caused some strong reactions across most Arab and Muslim countries including some violent ones in the newly established Arab Spring countries like Egypt and Libya.

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The New Conflict Coordinator to Syria, Al-Akhdar Al-Ibrahimi

14 Tuesday Aug 2012

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Photo: source

As the Syrian revolution turned violent, comparisons of the situation there have been made to every possible recent regional conflict. The Syrian conflict has gained some sectarian momentum which guaranteed its resemblance – according to many analysts (to different degrees) – to the Iraqi, Lebanese or former Yugoslavian conflicts.

Now, for us the Lebanese, we can very much relate to the sequence of events in Syria. It’s déjà vu for us. We can tell what comes after bombings for example; kidnappings, revenge killings, sectarian mobilisation, rise of local warlords are always on the menu. Continue reading »

A Closer Iran to Egypt Against Saudi Arabia?

21 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Arab World, Other Arab issues

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Sadegh Kharrazi, Iran’s former ambassador to France, has made some startling comments on the regional foreign policy of Iran. It seems he represents some Iranian circles that have some ‘hope’ with the current regime changes in Egypt, believing they can strategically align Iran with Egypt against Saudi Arabia. Kharrazi believes Turkey would too be included in this alliance.

This actually sounds counter-intuitive when Egypt, past and present, looks closer to Saudi Arabia than Iran. But the interesting bit is the reasoning given by Kharrazi, which gives little importance of Egypt’s position on Israel (or United States.) Continue reading »

Is Hezbollah Sending a Message to Bashar Assad?

14 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Arab Spring, Arab World, LB Politics, Media Monitoring, Politics, Press, Syria

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You might not take me seriously if I told you that the below cuttings are taken from an Al-Akhbar article (here is the Arabic version), written by its editor-in-chief Ibrahim Al-Amine.

Al-Akhbar has close links with Hezbollah, with Al-Amine considered the unofficial spokesman of the Party of God. I am not talking about the portrait of Imad Mughniyeh behind his desk, but rather his editorials.

He is a staunch supporter of Bashar Assad’s regime, but he goes out of his way sometimes, mostly in the wrong way, but I can’t fault him this time. This is what he gave us this time:

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The Arab Spring is the Black Swan Moment of the Middle East

12 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Arab Spring, Arab World, Politics

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The Arab Spring has been described and associated with such a wide variety of symbolic designations that at times, the term chosen to describe the series of protests that have swept across the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region may indicate a person’s political position on the wide and highly polarized spectrum. The term ‘Arab Spring’ has even been criticized by some who support the pro-democracy (or anti-regime) protests, citing this description as being Orientalist and therefore inappropriate.

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Former Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa says Iran is an Arab country

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by in Arab World, Other Arab issues

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You might have followed yesterday, like most people I follow on social media, the first live presidential debate in Egypt between the former Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh Abdel Hady and former Secretary General of Arab League and Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa.

Caricature Of The Day: Bloody Bahrain F1 Grand Prix

21 Saturday Apr 2012

Posted by in Arab Spring, Arab World, Caricature of the day, MB Politics, MicroBlogs, Politics

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Bernie Ecclestone does not see what the fuss is about with the formula One Grand Prix tomorrow in Bahrain, insisting that the unrest in the country “has nothing to do with them“.

Of course, it’s related to the regime crackdown on the uprising, and the widespread human right violations attached to it. A massive protest took place yesterday against the F1 event.

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Hamas and Hezbollah on Syria: sectarianism at ‘its best’

22 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Arab World, Other Arab issues, Politics, Syria

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There was a lot of talk recently on Hamas’ position on Syria. The position is almost available in the public domain now which is summed up as Hamas sympathizes with the internal legitimate demands of the Syrian people, and doesn’t tar the whole Syrian crisis with the ‘foreign conspiracy’ denial line as Hezbollah does.

Qassem Qassem in Al-Akhbar summed up both parties’ positions well, and he confirmed that: Continue reading »

Journalist Hosein Mortada as a political advisor to Syrian regime

15 Thursday Mar 2012

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Today the Syrian revolution is one year old, and the day is featuring a frenzy in the main and social media over the leaked emails of Bashar Al-Assad and his wife Asma Al-Akhrass, published yesterday by The Guardian. The emails were obtained by The Guardian via some activists who were monitoring the Assads email accounts since last year. The emails are full of luxurious shopping lists, iTune downloads, games, music, Harry Potter and other silly YouTube video links exchanged between the couple themselves and with others.

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Funding the Syrian revolution with 10 Liras

03 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by in Arab Spring, Arab World, Media Monitoring, Politics, Syria, TV

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The theory goes like that: if you suspect a foreign conspiracy against your country, then the conspirators would be funding their locals agents with the foreign country’s currency. Well, this is at least what the Syrian TV and Iranian Al-Alam Channel think, who are in the same league with Addounia TV.

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Questioning the Syrian Casualty List?

01 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Arab Spring, Arab World, Media Monitoring, Politics, Press, Syria

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Every time I discuss the Syrian tragedy with an anti-revolution or pro-Assad person, I would be faced with these questions: how do you know the numbers of killed people are right? Can you verify them? Why not count the killed soldiers too? Obviously, these people try to muddle the core problem and cover (unintentionally sometimes) for the Syrian regime atrocities. This is exactly what blogger Sharmine Narwani did in a long article in Al-Akhbar English. From a previous conversation with her on twitter, Sharmine might not be a pro-Assad person, but she is doing her best to doubt the genuine outcome and intentions of the peaceful uprising (yes peaceful, that’s how it started, ok).

In her mentioned piece, she asks:

Perception is 100 percent of politics […] How then does one count 20, 40, or 200 casualties in a few hours while conflict continues to rage around them?

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Syrian constitution referendum: huge turn out in Baba Amr in Homs

26 Sunday Feb 2012

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Despite the rumours that there are anti-regime protests in the country for the past 11 months, and rumours that they are being fired at, and persecuted, and that parts of the country are not the under the government rule anymore, and that some of these parts are under siege and heavy bombardment, Syrians are heavily turning up today to the ballot boxes to say YES to the new draft of the constitution.

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Was Marie Colvin purposefully killed in Homs?

23 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in Arab Spring, Arab World, Politics, Syria

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Again today, on Marie Colvin’s death yesterday in Homs; I did speculate that her death could have been a result of a direct intentional hit by the Syrian army. My confidence in this speculation has shot up now; this is an interesting but strange piece of intelligence by The Daily Mail:  Continue reading »

Witnesses die in Syria too – A MUST READ last dispatch by Marie Colvin

22 Wednesday Feb 2012

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Just in the last week, several main witnesses of the atrocities being committed in Syria has died or been killed. The famous New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid died due to an asthma crisis when he was being smuggled into the country – due to restrictions on journalists. Citizen journalist Rami Al-Sayyid  was killed by the bombardment of Homs. Rami was responsible for uploading the YouTube videos and securing the live feed from Homs. He replaced his cousin Basel who was doing the same role, and got killed too by the Syrian regime. This morning, journalist Marie Colvin and photographer Remi Ochlik have died in Homs due to the indiscriminate shelling by the Syrian army, if not an intentional due to reportedly the fact they were present in a known ‘Press Centre’, which was directly hit. The regime knows how to silence journalists who oppose it.

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Americans teaching sabotage to Syrians

22 Wednesday Feb 2012

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Jeffrey White, the former American veteran senior intelligence officer and the current defense fellow at The Washington Institute, wrote yesterday about the importance of the indirect intervention in Syria in his point of view. He wrote a couple of month ago as well on the subject, assessing the different options available for intervention available, concluding that something must be done.

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Caricature of the day: a smart one from the Syrian revolution

13 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by in Arab Spring, Arab World, Caricature of the day, Media Monitoring, Social Media, Syria

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This caricature from Aamouda in Syria is one of the smartest, if not the smartest caricature I have ever seen from and/or about the Syrian revolution: A drilling rig trying to reach the sea of the freedom at the bottom, drills through the different layers above it.
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UN Human Rights Chief: crimes against humanity are likely in Syria – FULL Text speech

13 Monday Feb 2012

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I never do copycat on Lebanon Spring, but there is a first for everything; posting the  speech this afternoon (GMT), which could be marked as ‘historical’ in future, by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Syria.

Pillay previously encouraged the Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court. The full text was obtained by UN reporter for the Washington Post and Turtle Bay blogger at Foreign Policy Magazine Colum Lynch. I post it here with his permission, because it’s a MUST-READ.

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