Unhappy holidays: Ashura 2011

Anyone in need of  history lesson regarding Ashura, look here.  In Lebanon most of those who mark the event stick to ritual chest-smacking and non take it to the extremes as those in the southern town of Nabatiyeh. It's a bit of a gratuitous event for me, no real news value as such but visually it's certainly arresting.  Walking backwards amid a large group of excitable men vigorously waving large, sharp swords takes a modicum of faith; fortunately the inevitable spatters I had to clean off myself and my gear were all due to mourners.

Telegraph live blog

Pics from the fighting in Tripoli's loyalist Abu Selim neighbourhood made it onto the Telegraph's live blog yesterday. If anyone reading the text is wondering why it matters if the prisoners were black or not, it's because many of Ghadaffi's troops were/are hired mercenaries from elsewhere in Africa. As a result black Africans in Libya are currently getting a hard time from the rebels. The reason why the Telegraph asked about their ethnicity here was to show that they weren't necessarily all hired guns from abroad.

Troubles in Tripoli

The fighting in Tripoli over the last few days has been mainly focused around the neighbourhood of Abou Selim, a very poor and staunchly pro Gadaffi area. Rebels troops have been slowly going through the area, clearing out snipers from the buildings. As of tonight it looked like they'd 'won' the battle of Abou Selim but with nothing to stop fresh loyalists taking up postions tonight it looks like this situation could drag out for some time.

A Gadaffi soldier is captured by the rebels

Above and below: residents are caught up in the fighting

Corpses of rebels captured by Gaddafi's forces are left on the street.

Syrian strife spills into Lebanon

Given the fairly firm grip Syria still holds over Lebanon, it was only a matter of time before the unrest there found its way across the border. Today a number of Syrians in Beirut took to the streets in support of Bashar Assad's regime; two protests organised somewhat provocatively in strong Sunni areas saw violence - one demonstrator was shot in the stomach in a drive by shooting, at a second protest demonstrators were set upon by onlookers. I caught up with a around 150 protestors who were yelling Assad's praises outside the Syrian embassy. After around an hour they then proceeded to march all the way back to Dora, where they'd come from this morning.

Lebanon's secular movement finds its stride

Exhaustive counting of the protestors who turned out today to mark their displeasure with Lebanon's sectarian malaise numbered roughly between 'rather a lot' and 'bloody loads'.  It's good to see this movement gaining momentum but sadly any viable alternative  to the confessional system of (mis)governance that has been slowly poisoning this country for far too many years seems far from clear.