Arab press celebrates diplomatic triumph over Syria

The diplomatic maneuvers surrounding Syria continue to lead the Arab news on Wednesday. The withdrawal of Arab Gulf ambassadors from Syria, and the banishing of Syrian ambassadors from these countries is viewed by the Arab press as a significant move.

“In an unprecedented step since the boycott of Saddam Hussein’s regime by the Gulf states… Gulf Cooperation Countries  requested ‘ambassadors of the Syrian regime’ as they called them, to leave their territory immediately,” reports the liberal daily Al-Hayat, based in London.

Saudi-owned daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat, also based in London, quotes “high ranking Arab diplomatic sources” as saying that harsher steps may follow, including Arab Gulf recognition of the opposition’s Transitional Syrian Council. Gulf states are also contemplating an economic boycott of Syria and a ban on Syrian air traffic. A member of the Transitional Council, Ahmad Ramadan, tells the Saudi daily Al-Watan that Gulf states have already decided to recognize his organization as the official representative of the Syrian people, and the announcement of this decision is only a matter of time.

Al-Hayat reports the “unusually warm welcome” of Russian foreign minster Sergei Lavrov in Damascus.

Coverage of the actual events on the ground in Syria is minimal on Wednesday, but Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera reports 35 fatalities and a “deteriorating situation” in the city of Homs. The video report displays a bombarded city with calls to prayer sounding in the background of the explosions. Activists stand next to the injured and dead in hospital pleading for international intervention. “There are hundreds like this,” says one man pointing at a badly injured citizen on a hospital bed. “We can’t offer him anything.”

Will Egypt remain “civil”?

The changing religious character of Egypt is occupying much of the Arab media these days. Al-Hayat reports negotiations between the Muslim Brotherhood and more extreme Salafi forces in parliament to maintain the definition of Egypt as a “civil state” in the new constitution, rather than change its definition to a Sharia-governed state.

This debate comes amid a peculiar development in Egypt’s religiously-tinted parliament. Salafi MP Mamdouh Ismail began sounding the traditional call for noon prayer inside the session hall, and his practice is receiving massive Arab media coverage. Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel calls it “a first of its kind” while Saudi-owned daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat, a bit more reserved, calls it “a rare occurrence.”

Parliament speaker Muhammad Katatni, outraged, reprimanded Ismail, telling him that the session hall was meant for speaking and not praying. “You are no more religious than the rest of us,” he added.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s official clergy continues to display loyalty to the regime, as it did in the days of Mubarak. Independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reports that the country’s two most senior religious officials, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa and head of Al-Azhar (Egypt’s leading religious academy) Ahmad Tayyeb, outlawed calls for civil obedience this Saturday, as Egyptians continue to protest the actions of the country’s military rulers. Egypt’s main political parties also publicly denounced the calls for mass protests.

A deposed president returns home

The forthcoming return to Yemen of deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh is covered by both major news channels, Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. Saleh, who is currently undergoing medical treatment in New York for injuries he suffered during a failed assassination attempt, said he will return to Yemen on February 21 to participate in early parliamentary elections. Saleh says he will vote for his former deputy Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Hadi is currently the only presidential contestant. Al-Jazeera quotes “observers” as saying that Saleh’s return to Yemen before the elections casts doubt on his intention to forgo power under an agreement brokered by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.

Columnist: Israel will burn the entire region

In a fiery opinion piece published Wednesday in Al-Hayat, columnist Jihad Khazen warns against the dangers of a looming Israeli strike on Iran. “There is an organized campaign… led by the Israel lobby and neoconservatives… to push the United States towards a war with a country that lies ten thousand kilometers away.”

If Israel fails to convince the US to strike Iran it will do it itself, contends Khazen. He says Israel is well aware of the damage Hezbollah will inflict on it following a strike on Iran, as well as Iran’s intentions to close the Straight of Hormuz, cutting off 90% of the Gulf’s oil supply. “The Israeli government and its war criminal supporters in the US want America to pay the bill for Israel’s crimes.”

“Where are the Arabs in all of this?” ends Khazen, a question which remains unanswered.