Middle East Experience

Lebanese army intelligence briefly arrested a Lebanese TV crew on Friday morning who were filming at the site of the deadly blast at Beirut’s port.Journalist Edmond Sassine and cameraman Paul Bou Aoun were reporting on the devastation wrought by Tuesday’s explosion of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate that had been unsafely stored at a port warehouse since 2014.Following his arrest, Sassine said on Twitter that while the army had treated him and his colleague well, “journalists who are doing their jobs are not the ones who should be arrested.”“It should be the senior officials.”Sassine also claimed that foreign journalists were being allowed to report from the port site.A military spokesperson was not able to provide further detail on the arrest of the LBCI crew.A team from Lebanese channel MTV were also briefly arrested at the site on Wednesday.The spokesperson told Al Arabiya English that the Army was not allowing journalists to enter the explosion site in order to protect an “active crime scene” and prevent evidence being damaged. Drones are also banned from flying or filming in the area, the spokesperson added.Read more:Beirut explosion: Twitter flags fake video showing missile striking Lebanon port‘Lebanon has become a police state:’ Authorities bow to Turkish pressure, sue TV hostHuman Rights Watch’s Lebanon researcher Aya Majzoub said that the group was keeping an eye on the arrest and potential restrictions on freedom of speech.Following the explosion, Lebanon’s Cabinet announced a two-week state of emergency in the wake of the blast in the capital, handing over security to the army. However, the spokesperson said this would have no effect on the press freedom.Even with a state of emergency in place, Majzoub said, states must uphold certain rights, including the right to life and the prohibition on torture, as well as the requirements of a fair trial.“Although other rights may be temporarily restricted, the onus is on the state to show that these restrictions are provided for in law, that they are justified and necessary to achieve a legitimate goal, and that they are proportionate,” she added.For independent journalist Luna Safwan, any “arbitrary arrest, even momentarily, is an attack on freedom of the press.”“The Lebanese security authorities use every event as an excuse to act as a police state and impose certain restrictions,” she said.On Thursday night, amid growing anger at the apparent criminal negligence that led to the deaths of more than 150 people in the explosion, dozens of protesters headed to the Parliament building. Security forces responded by firing rounds of teargas into the crowd.Large protests are expected to be held in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square on Saturday afternoon to demand justice for those killed, injured or made homeless by the devastating blast.“The only way to hold people accountable is transparent and investigative reporting,” Safwan said. “This is vital.”Press freedom and freedom of expression in Lebanon have eroded in recent years, with dozens of journalists and activists being called in for questioning by security agencies after criticizing powerful politicians.Read more:The Beirut explosion is the latest disaster – Lebanese ruling elite must face justiceBeirut explosion: Destroyed port used as quarantine center long before coronavirusThis crackdown accelerated following mass protests against corruption, economic mismanagement and an entrenched sectarian political system that erupted in October last year. Between October and July at least 60 people were summoned or arrested for their posts on social media.Last month, a group of Lebanese and international organizations formed a new coalition to defend free speech in Lebanon, decrying an “alarming increase” in attacks on peaceful speech and expression.
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: TV crew arrested at Beirut port explosion site

Iraq is facing a new security challenge with its lack of control of drones, which have been increasingly used in the past months.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Has Iraq failed to control drone movement?

Days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Istanbul’s historic Hagia Sophia a mosque, Egypt announced ambitious restoration plans for South Sinai's Saint Catherine area.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Cairo denounces Hagia Sophia move, develops Egypt's Christian sites

An Al Arabiya English investigation into the details of a fake viral video showing doctored footage that alleges a missile struck the port of Beirut on Tuesday has revealed new details about how the fake footage was put together.Social media users widely shared a video in negative colors and alleged that it was shot on a thermal camera, allowing it to “spot the missile” that they claim hit the port and killed at least 154 people.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the appOther media outlets had quoted experts as saying the footage was fake, but by comparing the original, undoctored videos to the new video, Al Arabiya English has helped reveal how the footage was doctored and spread online.The investigation took place in three stages: Finding the original videos before they were altered to include the missile, inverting the video’s colors to show that it was not shot on a thermal camera, and previewing missile experts’ comments on the matter.Finding the original videosAl Arabiya English went through hundreds of videos of the Beirut explosion to find the ones that exactly matched the fake viral video frame-by-frame. The fake video consists of a montage of two videos showing different angles of the explosion, with the same fake missile doctored into both of them.Below is the fake video which went viral on social media with captions like: “You still believe that was an accident!!??” and “proof that this was a strike.”In the videos below, three versions of the two videos are combined into a split screen to show the difference between the original videos, the doctored videos, and the inverted doctored videos.First angle:Second angle:Thermal imagingThe individual who doctored the video made its colors negative, seemingly to better hide the reality of the video and make it look infrared. Social media users widely captioned the video as “thermal footage showing…etc.”By inverting the fake video through an editing software, Al Arabiya English was able to produce the original colors of the video. The interactive slider below shows the doctored negative video and the doctored inverted video: To see how a real thermal video would look like if inverted, Al Arabiya English applied the same effect to a Reuters video that shows a robot that detects people’s fever through taking thermal videos of them in South Korea.Missile expertsExperts said that the missile plastered into the video is far too large to be real and is not an identifiable missile type, which proves that it is fake.“The missile looks far too large to be physically plausible and there is no motion blur on the missile as would be expected given the speed at which it would have been traveling,” Hany Farid, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who focuses on digital forensics, told The Associated Press.“It’s basically a cartoon missile that doesn’t look anything like a real missile striking a target,” Jeffrey Lewis, a missile expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California confirmed to the AP.“If it were less amateurish, we could identify the actual missile type, estimate the reentry trajectory and speed, as well as look for digital artifacts,” Lewis said. “But this isn’t good enough to bother with. This is more derp fake than deep fake.”Read more: Beirut explosion: Destroyed port used as quarantine center long before coronavirusBeirut explosion: Hezbollah had ammonium nitrate in northwest London, Cyprus: ReportsBeirut explosion: 2013 legal note confirms tanker offloaded ammonium nitrate in port
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Beirut explosion fake footage: Original video analysis exposes new details

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu produces excuses and scapegoats, the only way for his annexation plan to stay alive is if President Donald Trump decides it can help him get reelected.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Only Trump can revive Netanyahu’s annexation plan

The rocket fired from Gaza at the beginning of the week and the incendiary balloons yesterday, might signal that the six months of quiet on the Israel-Hamas border are now over.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Incendiary balloons may spell end of quiet on Israel-Hamas border

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah strongly denied on Friday claims that his Iran-backed Shia group had stored arms at the Port of Beirut, the site of a deadly explosion which killed at least 154 people."I categorically deny" such rumors, Nasrallah said in a televised speech three days after the explosion which ripped through Beirut.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app."We have nothing in the port: not an arms depot, nor a missile depot nor missiles nor rifles nor bombs nor bullets nor ammonium nitrate," he added.Lebanese President Michel Aoun had said the explosion was due to a stockpile of 2,750 tons of the industrial chemical ammonium nitrate, used in fertilizers and explosives, catching fire after having been stored at the port since 2013 without safety measures.Tuesday’s blast left more than 5,000 people injured, smashed masonry, shattered windows, sucked furniture out of apartments onto the streets and left up to a quarter of a million people in disaster-stricken Beirut without homes fit to live in, according to Lebanese officials.- With AFPRead more:Fire, blast, mushroom smoke cloud, wreckage: Timeline of Beirut explosion footageBeirut explosion had 10 pct of Hiroshima atomic bomb’s explosive power: UK expertsColonel who died suspiciously had asked for removing ammonium nitrate: Lebanese media
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Beirut explosion: Hezbollah ‘categorically denies’ storing arms at blast site

The concept is rather simple but sounds promisingly efficient. Renters which use the app can share their opinion about the brighter and less brighter aspects of their apartments.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: New NYC app hopes to change the rules of the rental market

"We believe there are two people dead, and 35 injured, we are still in the middle of the rescue effort."
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Air India plane splits into two amid crash, at least two feared dead

Beirut's governor estimates about 300,000 people have been displaced as Lebanon braces for devastating economic effects..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Beirut explosion multiplies Lebanon’s crises