Nir Rosen in the section on Lebanon in his book Aftermath chides Western reporters in Lebanon for not venturing outside of Beirut (or it should be said outside a section of Beirut). You see that in the coverage of Lebanon in the last few days and in the next few days. Today, Hariri goons and thugs in North Lebanon and Biqa` and Beirut were leading closure of streets and violent protests that did not spare news crews of "rival" TV stations and newspapers. The protests in the North (which will be crowned tomorrow with a Day of Protest) are led by the Bin Ladenite, MP, Khalid Dahir (who orchestrated the Halba massacre). Those are ALSO part of the March 14 coalition but you would not know it from the Western coverage. The protests of Al-Biqa` are led by Shaykh Khalil Al-Mays who basically personally led the effort to recruit fighters for Zarqawi. He also is part and parcel of March 14. Tomorrow will get uglier and things are likely to get out of hand. I expect the nominated prime minister, Najib Miqati, to buckle under the pressure from Hariri street thugs (and to pressure from House of Saud). That could usher in a period of long deadlock, unless March 8 decides to go provocative and antagonistic and in that case, they will nominate the secular Arab nationalist, Usamah Sa`d.
PA The AP picture above is from today's protests in Tripoli. Behind the protesters in picture there is a neon sign of Allah: for the Allah Square in Tripoli, so named by Hariri salafites last year.
