Sunday, April 03, 2016

What is happening in Al-Arabiyya offices? The sectarian anti-Shi`ite war rages

So the entire office of Al-Arabiyya (the news station of Muhammad bin Salman who bought it from his cousin) in Beirut was closed down.  The reason? You see, their correspondent in Beirut, `Adnan Ghamlush, a Shi`ite, is tasked with providing a daily summary of Beirut dailies.  Two weeks ago, As-Safir had a report about the mental health of King Salman, and he just said the headline about the matter (it took 10 seconds only), he was cut off in mid-sentence and broadcast from Beirut ended.  His email with the station, was cancelled immediately and he was fired.  At the same time, there was anger in Riyadh because a silly short documentary on Hasan Nasrallah was perceived to be sympathetic to him, and Shi`ites in the Beirut office were collectively blamed for the "disaster".  So the office was closed down and the entire staff fired.