Qifa Nabki
Hariri investigation
The Return of Hussam Hussam
Lebanese television station Al-Jadeed released another titillating episode in its series “Haqiqa Leaks” a few days ago, this time featuring the notorious Hussam Hussam, a Syrian intelligence agent who came forward early in the Hariri investigation with information incriminating Syrian and Lebanese security officials. Hussam, like Siddiq (who was the star of his own Haqiqa … Continue reading
Saving Lebanon’s Syrian-Saudi-Qatari-Turkish Initiative
It’s been another marathon day for political deal-making in Lebanon. As recently as this morning, the Syrian-Saudi initiative remained dead and buried, only to be resurrected under Qatari-Turkish stewardship (and French oversight) by the afternoon. Tomorrow, we may see the Brazilians and the Russians tossing their hats in the ring, and before you know it, … Continue reading
Some Post-Speech Thoughts
Here are some quick thoughts on Hizbullah secretary-general Sayyid Hasan Nasrallah’s speech this evening, which I live-blogged here (see here for another English translation). Firstly, I found Nasrallah’s discussion of the terms of the Syrian-Saudi initiative to be quite interesting. If Saad al-Hariri really did agree to the opposition’s demands that they (a) withdraw the … Continue reading
Nasrallah to Address Lebanon on Eve of Indictments’ Release
Hizbullah secretary-general Sayyid Hasan Nasrallah will give a live televised address this evening at 8:30 PM Beirut time (6:30 PM GMT). Arabic speakers outside Lebanon will almost certainly be able to watch the speech on this website. For non-speakers, I will be live-blogging and translating the speech here. I expect Nasrallah to address the following … Continue reading
Saad al-Hariri Caught On Tape with “False Witness” Muhammad Zuhair al-Siddiq
Well this is embarrassing. Lebanese TV station al-Jadeed has a major scoop tonight: a leaked recording of a meeting between Saad al-Hariri, Information Branch chief Colonel Wissam al-Hassan, STL deputy chief investigator Gerhard Lehmann, and Muhammad Zuhair al-Siddiq. You can watch the entire report below. It’s not entirely clear just how damaging this could be … Continue reading
Qifa Nabki 
And the people say…