Syrian fire spreads to Aleppo; Egypt struggles on two fronts

The Syrian regime’s storming of the University of Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city – which has so far largely refrained from taking part in the popular uprising against Bashar Assad – is leading Arab news coverage on Friday.

“Storming of Aleppo University and the revolutionaries to declare a united political entity,” reads the headline of Saudi-owned London-based daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat. The daily reports that four students were killed and over 200 arrested near the campus.

“The Syrian regime was confident throughout the months of the uprising that Syria’s second [largest] city and its economic capital will maintain its loyalty to it, due to the close ties fostered between the regime and the business and manufacturing sector in it,” writes liberal daily Al-Hayat.

US President Barack Obama would like to “postpone” the Syrian revolution until after the American presidential elections in November, writes Al-Hayat columnist Raghda Dargham.

“Syria is an important station in Barack Obama’s elections campaign, even as candidates wish to marginalize it or avoid it,” writes Dargham. “In Syria, the Iranian-American relations diverge, as well as the American relations with GCC countries, headed by Saudi Arabia.”

Saudi-owned news site Elaph reports that Syrian police are following the 24 UN observers deployed in Syria, adding that the UN has only deployed half the number of observers needed for the mission. “Only in Syria – the observers need observers,” reads a handwritten sign in English carried by a Syrian protester in the city of Dael, in the photo included in the article.

Al-Jazeera, a Qatar-based news channel, leads with the statement of UN chief monitor Robert Mood that the Syrian army must take the first step in stopping the violence in the country. Mood reportedly stated this during a visit to the cities of Homs and Hama.

Egypt and its woes

Egypt continues to star in Arab news Friday, with newspapers focusing both on its internal politics and its foreign affairs, namely its shaky relationship with its financial benefactor Saudi Arabia.

“Egypt jails itself on ‘Friday of advancement'” reads the headline of Al-Hayat, noting that Islamists in Egypt are calling Friday’s mass rally “the million man march to protect the revolution and prevent bloodshed.”

Al-Jazeera reports that Egypt’s military rulers in the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) are warning protesters against marching on the Ministry of Defense in the Abbasiya district, where at lease a dozen protesters were killed in clashes with unknown thugs on Wednesday.

Disqualified Islamist presidential candidate Hazem Abu-Ismail told his followers — who seem to be at the heart of the protest movement against the military government — to refrain from approaching Abbasiya. “Those who went out for my sake, should return,” he is reported by Al-Jazeera as saying.

Meanwhile, A-Sharq Al-Awsat reports the continued Egyptian attempts at rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, which arrested a human rights lawyer last week, sparking a chain of protests against it in Cairo.

On Thursday, a high-ranking Egyptian delegation arrived in Riyadh in an attempt to appease the Saudis. The delegation, which included Egyptian parliament speaker Muhammad Saad Katatni and the heads of Egypt’s parliamentary blocs, met with Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faysal on Thursday and is scheduled to meet with King Abdullah of Friday.

A-Sharq Al-Awsat columnist Mushary Al-Thaidy refers to Egypt’s new revolutionary trend — manifested in the surprising outburst against Saudi Arabia — as a “new Pharoanization,” by which he means the feeling of Egyptian exclusiveness and separatism.

Al-Thaidy attacks Egyptian Islamists who, in the aftermath of the anti-Saudi protests, stereotype Saudis as “desert tent-dwellers.”

It is strange that these people call themselves “Islamists,” he writes, while their depiction of Saudi culture is closer to stereotypical characterization of Arabs in Western cinema.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s foreign minister found time to condemn Israel’s authorizing 1100 housing units in southern Jerusalem, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reports on its front page, quoting the German News Agency.

French debate preoccupies Arab attention

The presidential debate between the two French candidates Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy is widely reported in Arab media Friday.

Al-Hayat reports that the two candidates were tied at the end of the debate, with neither scoring a “knockout.”

Meanwhile, Elaph reports that France’s North African immigrants tend to vote for the socialist candidate over his conservative rival. An interesting photo displayed in the article shows a T-shirt depicting the map of France covered with the Algerian flag, under the inscription “Hollande President.”

According to French polls, nearly 60% of these immigrants voted for Hollande in the first round of voting last week.