Hezbollah assassinated Rafic Hariri?

Tonight I came across an article published in Der Spiegel, a german weekly magazine, revealing new evidence pointing fingers to Hezbollah in the assassination of the late PM Rafic Hariri.

As per the Spiegel, Wissam Eid (assassinated early in 2008) reached that evidence by analyzing the phone calls that were made on the few days leading to the assassination. You can read the full article here.

I expect this news to hit the Lebanese press tomorrow morning, let’s see how will they react towards it, and what will Hezbollah have to say on that accusation.

Update (05/25/2009):

The international tribunal denied all what has been mentioned in Der Spiegel. More info here, article is in Arabic.

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Blogs I liked

I usually spend a good time everyday following the updates on the Lebanese blogsphere, and I lately came across two nice blogs.

The first is “Hummus nation“, a very funny blog acting as a national news agency from the Hummus nation and reporting daily news (and breaking news sometimes!) about various matter. The latest news reported the phoenix bird being accidentally shot by hunters using RPG’s at Dawra. T3isho.
I’d love to know more about the anonymous author of Hummus Nation, it would be nice if he/she posts an “About me” page. From the writing style I think he’s a man who has gone through the Lebanese Civil war, probably in his mid or late thirties. And the first letter of his name is … oh well khalas.

The second is “Maya’s Amalgam“, authored by Maya Zankoul (not Zakkour!!). It’s just like any other peronal blog, except that Maya is using illustrations to deliver her opinions, messages and daily observations, a bit similar to what Mireille does at Life Geeked.
I have gone over several posts on her blog, and so far all her stories are short, amusing, and interesting. Matches my reading requirements at work!

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Virgin & UFA buildings in Beirut

Expecting some elections billboards? Sorry to disappoint you, today I’m sharing with you 2 photos I have taken in downtown Beirut showing Virgin and UFA buildings in the martyr’s square.

ufa_small virgin_small

Eikhir injeizeiteh!

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Nahr El-Mot interchange

I received the below images by e-mail today showing how Nahr El-Mot interchange should look like in I dunno how many years from now. If the contracting companies will continue working at the same rate, that is 1 bridge per 3 years, then my son will probably be able to go through Nahr El-Mot without getting stuck in the traffic jam!

You can click on the images to enlarge them.

nahr-el-mot

nahr-el-mot-1

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Charbel Khalil and Charles Ayoub

In his show “Basmat Watan”, Charbel Khalil made fun of Charles Ayoub in one of the sketches showing, in an indirect way, that Ayoub’s articles are so bad that one can use them instead of toilet paper. Recall that Charles Ayoub declared his candidacy in Keserwan againt Michael Aoun.

Today, Charles Ayoub replied like a bitch on Khalil’s sketch with an small article on the front page titled “Chabrle Khalil el khara”! And here’s what he wrote:

Link: http://www.journaladdiyar.com/articles.asp?ID=121857&CatID=3

شربل خليل الخرى

بعد التفتيش بالحمض النووي لشربل خليل على مستوى فاريا وحراجل وغيرها، تبيّن ان الحمض النووي يعود لجندي فيدجي خدم في لبنان عند بداية مجيء القوات الدولية وله ذات الحمض الذي ينتمي إليه شربل خليل.

ومن يكون شربل خليل؟ جاهل، أمي، أعطاه بيار الضاهر شاشة، فراح بواسطة الحمض النووي الفيدجي يضحك بعض المشاهدين ويضحكهم بصورته الفيدجية على الشاشة.

امس مات شربل خليل، انتهى عند اللبنانيين وبات دمية تتحرك على شاشة قوية يستعملها كيفما يشاء، لكنه هو صغير وصغير، فانتقل الى رحمة شيطانه وانتهى.

أما القراء فسيستغربون كيف سنطلق عليه كلمة خرى، ففي ذوق مكايل كان يتحدث الناس عن برنامج بسمات وطن، لكنهم لا يعرفونه إلا باسم شربل خرى، وإذا حاولت الدفاع عنه بأن اسمه ليس شربل خرى، فيجيبون أخرى من الخرى، وما استطعنا لاقناع هؤلاء الناس سبيلاً.

المشكلة ان بيار الضاهر يوافق على هذه النوعية، و«الديار» لم تعد مشكلتها مع شربل خليل، وهي التي رفضت نشر دعوى سوء ائتمان ضد بيار الضاهر، بل قالت عنها انها دعوى من سمير جعجع ضد بيار الضاهر.

لم يقابل الضاهر الجميل والحسنى بالحسنى، بل ترك الخرى خرى.

نقول لبيار الضاهر نحن نقرف من الخرى، ونقول لم تعد مشكلتنا مع الوسخ، المشكلة القادمة هي مع بيار الضاهر، فمنذ تحقيق الكنيسة ولجوئه الى «الديار» للدفاع عنه بوجه أخصامه سليمان فرنجية وعصام فارس وصولاً الى يومنا هذا، حيث يواجه جعجع الآن.

بيار الضاهر، انت اقوى من جريدتنا بكثير، ولكن حافظ على مشيختك ومحطتك، لأن المشكلة معك انت في المرة القادمة، ولا يمكنك كصاحب مزرعة ان تفلت كلاباً وتقول لا علاقة لي بهم.

بيار الضاهر نقول لك، رأسك برأسنا وأحد الرؤوس سيطير بالكلام المكتوب او بالسكتش المكتوب.

أما خرى الفيدجي سيبقى خرى.

شربل خليل، لا يعرف والده، ولا يعرف أنه بندوق، لكن نحن نقول لبيار الضاهر تحملنا ما تحملناه فليحل مشاكله مع الآخرين ولينسَ «الديار» لأن «الديار» سكين لا يرحم.

«الديار»

It’s indisputably low, Charbel Khalil did not mention names in the sketch. I was rarely biased in this blog, but in this case I’m gonna go all the way with Charbel Khalil, at least he’s not a bitch that politicians buy and sell whenever they want!

Update (5/16/2009):

I also found this caricature of Charbel Khalil published along with the article.

charbel-khalil-caricature

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Mashrou’ Leila

I haven’t heard any of Mashrou’ Leila’s songs yet, but I have read many articles about their music being very nice.

Below is an article by Hanadi Dairi from Nahar Alshabab about them.

mashrou3-leila
Click to Enlarge and read full article

If you know where they perform, plz let me know the place, I am interested in watching them live.

The scan is via Lubnanabad

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Lebanese elections billboard wars – 4

Right after the Free Patriotic Movement published this billboard:

joumhouriyyeh-teilteh

The Lebanese Forces replied with this one:

joumhouriyyeh-teilteh-lf

The FPM’s billboard says “The third republic is for sure”, while the Lebanese Forces billboard shows that the third republic’s flag is going to be yellow, i.e. ruled by hizbollah, proving that the FPM are hizbollah’s puppets. More explanation on that can be found here. I liked the LF reply, regardless if it is true or not!

Notice that this Lebanese Forces billboard can also be spotted in Tarik El-Jadida, a Sunni area in Beirut, and I honestly find it ironic. In 2009, 19 years after the Lebanese civil war, the Lebanese Forces are warning the Sunnis from the Shia’s agenda… Fews years ago, the Sunnis of Tarik El-Jadida used to admire Nasrallah and mock Samir Geagea in prison!

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FPM’s newest billboards

Just when I thought the Free Patriotic Movement have reached the peak of their advertising campaign with the last post, I was surprised to see more NICE billboards today on the way to work. I am starting to think I’m lucky that my workplace is in Metn!

wifak-nifak

tighyir-ti3tir

tasadom-tafeihom

shirkeh-sharakeh

The Free Patriotic Movement used antonyms here not only to describe in one word their plan for the next 4 years, but also to explain March 14’s agenda if they took the majority once again in the upcoming elections (from FPM’s point of view).

Chapeaux bas once again. I think there’s no way for March 14 to catch up with FPM’s campaign… unless they were hiding some surprises!

Photos via Beirut/NTSC.

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Dick Cheney killed Hariri and Hobeika?

Here’s another video that caught my attention yesterday.

In this video, Wayne Madsen (an investigative journalist) claims that Dick Cheney had his own death squad CIA unit which he ran from the white house. And by the orders of Cheney, the assassinations unit killed Elie Hobeika (Lebanese Forces chief) on January 2002, and Rafic Hariri on February 2005.

I have no idea how true is that, but I am pretty sure we will know everything in 10 years from now, when all the involved parties will be eventually admitting what really happened to documentaries. Just as in the case with the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), most of what we know now is through the documentaries that were released in the past few years.

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