The ghosts of Hama have come back to haunt the Assad regime. Today we find Hama once again a flash point for Syrian repression. Thirty years after its residents were massacred in one of the worst atrocities committed by an Arab regime against its own people, we look back at patterns between father and son, to glean what has changed since Hama's first 'incident' in 1982 from which a whole city has not really had closure nor healed. This time the population of Hamam who finally entered into the slow-starting ...

For a while it seemed afloat but only momentarily before this fleet floundered, most notably at the port of Greece. Here it underwent what was considered a form of sabotage akin to that afflicted by Israel last time round (see our photo-gallery flotilla review) but this time in the form of Greece's over-zealous and probably illegal paperwork and security check facade- saving Israel the trouble of later intercepting this fleet of activists or as it termed them 'provocateurs' which may have resulted in more than just a beareaucratic injury to ...

Check out our panel of Lebanon's best "babe" of 2011.

It's official, South Sudan is now a new country. The African region can celebrate this new arrival and new leader, Salva Kiirat, at a time of departures and collapse in the Mid-East.

Souad Muhammad Kamal Hosni Al Baba was born on the 26th of January, 1942 in Ataba, Cairo, Egypt, the 10th sister of 17 siblings. Hosni was one of the most influential and adored actresses in the Middle East and consequently, was given the name the "Cinderella" of the Egyptian and Arab cinema. At the end of the 1950s, she reached her stardom and became one of the most legendary actresses in the Arab world. Suad has taken the leading parts in more than 83 films in the period from 1959 ...

The Salafis are a very broad, amorphous grouping of Muslims who believe that the only way to salvation is to follow, strictly and fully, the way of life of the earliest Muslims (whom they revere as the "Salaf us Saleh", or "Righteous Predecessors", the 'Puritans' of the Muslim collective, if you like). Although they would like to present themselves to other Muslims as belonging to a timeless tradition, Salafism in fact can be traced to around the time of the collapse of the Crusader states, when a Damascene Islamist preacher ...

While Colonel Moammar Gaddafi's days may be numbered, he will be missed by many. Not least by Al Bawaba's entertainment channels, if just for his 'Qaddafisms'. Though Gaddafi himself still does not seem about to take his last curtain call, he might soon get caught out, or beaten, by the overwhelming tide of opposition and NATO's strikes- as witnessed in the Yemeni leader's eventual begrudging departure. The Edtiors at Al Bawaba might secretly miss him, but we shan't be sorry to see the back of a tyrant who has unleashed ...

Sabah, the Lebanese octogenarian queen, our darling singing and acting classic diva, who was born the less exotic 'Janet', soon shed her given names, Gergi Fighali, in favor of the stage name Sabah. She is among the most prolific Arab singers, with a reported 3,500 songs to her repertoire. Prolific in entertainment and in her private life too- through much publicised multiple marriages. Reportedly married a good 9 times, the figure is disputed in the minefield of reportage and data concerning such a celebrity, who has not helped the matter ...

The outing of Israeli-American spy found in Tahrir Square just this month has tickled our spy sensors awake and got us craving some spy drama, only to be found perhaps in a bygone era. But in this case, we need not delve back that far. Inpsired to revisit the not-so-ancient anals of Egyptian history of espionage webs or spy cases, we can hark back to a recent spy ring in the region- specifically an Egypt/ Israel ring uncovered just 2009/10. Al Bawaba offers you a taster to stimulate your spook ...

The 'Gay Girl in Damascus' it turns out was neither in Damascus nor gay or female, for that matter. This story has had the media world in a bit of a frenzy in the last fortnight. It is the story of an American man in the UK studying for his masters in Middle East studies who, while distracting himself from his thesis, distracted the whole internet and news world with him. But while detracting us from real news on the Syrian ground, this blog fantasist also threw into relief some ...