Tag: lebanon

Lebanese resistance strikes in solidarity with Gaza

Amid continuous Israeli air raids and ground operations in Gaza that left scores of Palestinian civilians killed over the past couple of weeks, fighters from the Lebanese resistance movement, Hizbollah, have killed seven Israeli army soldiers (UPDATE 6pm Cairo Time: number rose to 8 soldiers killed, reports Al-Jazeera), detained two soldiers, and injured others, according to Al-Jazeera. Hizbollah says three of its fighters have been killed uptil now.
The Israelis have called up a division of 6000 troops to the borders, according to Al-Jazeera, some of which, as I’m blogging now, have crossed into the Lebanese borders, and heavy fighting is going on.
Hizbollah played a great role in the past in securing the release of Palestinian and Arab prisoners from Israeli jails, by operations similar to that one today.

UPDATE (5:30pm Cairo Time): Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah’s secretary-general, is now giving a press conference on today’s operations. He’s saying the operation was launched in 9:05am. “The aim is not escalation in the Lebanese south,” he is saying, stressing the aim of the resistance strikes are to liberate Lebanese and Arab prisoners in Israeli jails. Nasrallah also called up on Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq to halt their sectarian strife, and unite against the foreign occupiers of their country.

AUB’s John Waterbury in diplomats’ target?

The Angry Arab reports that US diplomats are trying to punish American University in Beirut’s John Waterbury for having awarded a honorary degree to Robert Fisk:

I hear that John Waterbury, the president of American University of Beirut, is in big trouble with the US government. Apparently, the US embassy in Lebanon is most displeased that Robert Fisk was awarded an honorary doctorate from AUB. In his speech, Fisk gave a scathing indictment of US foreign policy. That did not sit well with the embassy, which is lobbying Washington, I am told, to punish Waterbury. They found a technical irregularity in one of the advertised posters, and will be using that to discredit Waterbury.

Waterbury is an important American academic who’s written many great books on, among others, Egypt and Morocco. If this turns into something, be ready to support him and defend academic freedom. After all, I don’t like another recipient of the same honor (Nasser Kharafi of the eponymous Kuwaiti mega-corporation), but don’t think Waterbury should be punished for it!

Egypt vs. Lebanon vs. Morocco

Elijah wonders about Lebanon and Egypt, a comparison I’ve often made myself:

Coming from Egypt, all this Lebanese success actually annoyed me. If Lebanon—a few years after a 15-year civil war, and with no natural resources to speak of—can do so well, why is Egypt so screwed up? OK, there are only something like 4 million people in all of Lebanon, or about the population of Shobra and Bulaq. But is population all there is to it? Egypt borders two seas, it has the Suez Canal, natural gas reserves, unparalleled tourist destinations, and it hasn’t just emerged from a long civil war. You’d think that’d be enough to outweigh the population differences. So why is Lebanon so nice?

Indeed, it’s sometimes mind-boggling.

Continue reading Egypt vs. Lebanon vs. Morocco

Al Hayat interview with Bashar Assad

In which he discusses (with editor Ghassan Charbel and Damascus bureau chief Ibrahim Hamidi)Syria’s relationship with Jordan, Egypt’s negotiation of behalf of mini-Hariri, Arab fears of Iran’s growing regional role, growing sectarianism in Lebanon, his willingness to deal with anyone in Lebanon (Aoun, mini-Hariri, Seniora, etc.) except Walid Jumblatt and maybe Jacques Chirac. Although the interview doesn’t make earth-shattering revelations, Bashar handles it pretty well overall.

This is part one, and in part two (not yet online) he apparently says there’s a growing Al Qaeda presence in Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Al Akhbar newspaper

I saw in one of Angry Arab’s recent posts from Lebanon that he was given a tour — by Joseph Samaha no less — of the new Al Akhbar offices there. He said he was pleased by what he saw. Al Akhbar is a new project headed by Samaha — former editor of As Safir and generally considered one of the best, or at least most-read, editorialists in Lebanon — that is getting talked about in Arab journalistic circles even here as far as Morocco.

Continue reading Lebanon’s Al Akhbar newspaper