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Perry reports: Gunfire rages in Lebanon
“CNN’s Cal Perry and his crew are pinned down behind a building as gunfire rages in Beirut, Lebanon”
Perry also blogged later on, you can find his post here.
From CNN.com:
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) – Gun fire broke out in downtown Beirut on Thursday after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said recent government actions amount to “a declaration of open war.”
There are reports of open street battles in at least one neighborhood. Video showed people throwing stones at each other, as Lebanese soldiers used tear gas to disperse the crowds.
The violence is limited to Beirut’s Shiite and Sunni neighborhoods and has continued into the evening hours.
Shortly after Nasrallah’s speech, CNN’s Cal Perry reported from Sodeco Square in downtown Beirut during an intense gun battle.
“Just in the past few minutes … things have gotten a lot worse,” he said, taking cover with the Lebanese army. He said government forces have not reacted to the violence.
The Lebanese army, which is charged with trying to keep peace in the capital, is in a precarious position, Perry explained.
“When you’re talking about this much gunfire, when you’re talking about [rocket-propelled grenades] fire, it’s absolutely ludicrous to think that the army will put themselves between these two factions,” he said.
Video of the scene showed empty streets and shuttered stores. There were no reports of violence in Beirut’s Christian neighborhoods. Witnesses and journalists described a long line of cars on the main road leading out of Beirut after the violence broke out.
In his televised speech, Nasrallah offered harsh words for the government, blaming it for declaring war by banning Hezbollah’s telecommunications system.
“We believe the war has started, and we believe that we have the right to defend ourselves,” the Hezbollah leader said. “We will cut the hand that will reach out to the weapons of the resistance, no matter if it comes from the inside or the outside.”
He explained that Hezbollah’s unmonitored telecommunications system, which the government recently deemed illegal, is “the most important element for the resistance.”
Nasrallah called on the government to “withdraw their decisions, and there would be no war.”
Late Thursday, Hezbollah’s television outlet announced that the organization had rejected calls by the leader of the ruling parliamentary bloc for talks led by a new president.
Lebanese parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri blamed Nasrallah for “starting a new round of horror” and called on the army to intervene.
The latest tensions between Lebanon’s U.S.-backed government and Hezbollah were sparked Monday when the government declared Hezbollah’s communication system illegal.
The same day, the government fired the head of Beirut airport’s security, Brig. Gen. Wafik Shoukeir, amid its investigation into allegations that Hezbollah had installed cameras and other monitoring equipment at the airport.
Hezbollah viewed Shoukeir’s dismissal as another confrontation by the Sunni-led government against the Shiite militant group’s authority.
The government believes that Hezbollah was using the equipment to keep tabs on anti-Syrian government officials, possibly funneling the information to Syria. Syria has been accused of carrying out assassinations on anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians, a charge it vehemently denies.
Hezbollah has been blamed for using Wednesday’s labor strike, planned to protest low wages, as an excuse to take to the streets of Beirut to protest the government’s crackdown on its telecommunication system.
The strike quickly turned into a flashpoint over Lebanon’s 17-month-old political crisis.
Hezbollah supporters continue to block all the roads leading to Beirut’s airport, forcing the cancellation of nearly all incoming and outgoing flights. The airport is strategic for Lebanon, which is wedged between Syria and Israel, because it is the only way into and out of the country for many people.
In his speech, Nasrallah argued that Hezbollah’s telecommunications system is a weapon that is legal under the Taif Agreement, which ended Lebanon’s civil war in 1989. That agreement called for the disarmament of all militias except for Hezbollah because of its role as a resistance group against the Israeli occupation, which ended in 2000.
“As a resistance, we don’t have a big budget like the United States and Israel,” Nasrallah said. “When we need to face them and their high technology, we need to have the simplest means of networking.”
CNN’s Perry to Lebanon
Monday, April 7, 2008, 3:48 pm
Filed under: Lebanon, News, Politics, Random, Television, cnn | Tags: baghdad, cal perry, cnn, beirut, Lebanon, baghdad bureau chief, international correspondent, parisa khosravi, cnn worldwide, abu dhabi, amman, cairo, dubai, jerusalem, cnn presents, combat hospital, cnn international, brent sadler, cnn newsource
Filed under: Lebanon, News, Politics, Random, Television, cnn | Tags: baghdad, cal perry, cnn, beirut, Lebanon, baghdad bureau chief, international correspondent, parisa khosravi, cnn worldwide, abu dhabi, amman, cairo, dubai, jerusalem, cnn presents, combat hospital, cnn international, brent sadler, cnn newsource
The official Press Release:
“Cal Perry, CNN’s award-winning Baghdad bureau chief and producer, has been appointed as the network’s new international correspondent based in Beirut, Lebanon, it was announced today by Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president of international newsgathering for CNN Worldwide.
Perry, who has been instrumental in coordinating and guiding CNN’s unrivaled coverage of Iraq over the past four years, takes up his new position in April. In this new role, he will cover Lebanon and also support CNN’s growing presence across the Middle East with editorial operations in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Baghdad, Cairo, Dubai and Jerusalem.
As Baghdad bureau chief, Perry oversaw a staff of more than two dozen journalists and also reported breaking news and produced long-form programming including CNN Presents: Combat Hospital, which won a CINE award in 2007.
‘Cal’s expertise of the region is an invaluable asset for us, and I’m delighted that he is taking up a new role in Beirut,’ Khosravi said. ‘As we continue to strengthen our presence in the Middle East and in other parts of the world through our content ownership strategy adding additional correspondents and resources, having ‘can do’ reporters of his caliber are essential.’
In addition to this appointment, CNN International is also boosting its feature programming in the region with additional resources for Inside The Middle East and the acclaimed and recently launched Market Place Middle East. In addition to tapping into CNN’s planned production center in Abu Dhabi that was announced in January, both programs will have exclusive access to international correspondent Brent Sadler and his considerable knowledge and experience of the region.
This new role for Sadler underscores the importance and commitment to the region by CNN and will allow both programs to plan more in-depth and expanded coverage.
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.”
Congratulations Cal!
I’ve been busy
Thursday, March 13, 2008, 11:34 am
Filed under: Chicago Cubs, News, Random, Technology, blogging, washington nationals, websites | Tags: News, river dogz, river-dogz.com, washington nationals, websites
Filed under: Chicago Cubs, News, Random, Technology, blogging, washington nationals, websites | Tags: News, river dogz, river-dogz.com, washington nationals, websites
You may have noticed (or not, if you’ve just stopped checking all-together) that I haven’t written here in a while. Well I’ve been busy! I, with my limited technical knowledge, helped build a blog focused on the Washington Nationals. Granted I’m a die hard Cubbies fan, as are a few of the writers on river-dogz, but there’s always room for another witty, sarcastic and highly analytical baseball blog.
You’ll notice that my website-building skills are pretty minimal (the header could use some work), but all in all I’m quite proud of myself! I even figured out how to get an image to show up in a text widget - for me, that’s a huge accomplishment. Also, changing the fonts or text size was initially a challenge but now I find myself talking about font families and scrolling through stylesheets. It’s crazy! (for me it’s crazy.)
As for changing colors, well, I’m just not there yet. I mean, can someone please tell me what this means? As I began working with code and trying to figure it all out, the colors seemed pretty self explanatory. Find the ‘333′ in the stylesheet for the header color, change it to ‘033′ and you’ll get a new color (dark blue), right? Wrong.
Now I find myself working even harder on my own site (I’d link to it, but it’s currently password protected), trying new things, working with code and challenging myself more and more to try to make a website not only look good, but go past the original theme and make it my own. Once I take the password protection off it’s going to be great - not just visually, but it is and will be a full collection of my writing, research, and some photos.
A final note about river-dogz - I think it would be pretty awesome to have an embedded calendar (or something similar) to show the Nats season schedule. Any suggestions for how to go about that?
I’m back
Michael beat me to it! Just tonight, I was reading some of my older posts and noticed that the archives jump from December of last year to March of this year. How could I possibly call myself a writer if I’m not writing anything here? I have certainly been writing offline, but I really need to bring it back online.
Since being at South by Southwest and doing my best to blog about all of the amazing panels I have attended (or at least take detailed notes for future posts), I’ve come to the realization that I have deprived my loyal readers (all four of you) of my daily rantings, ravings, thoughts, insights, poems, and everything else.
Well, that’s going to change, starting now. I’m committing myself to at least 5 posts per week, if not more. Welcome back Penfall lovers - I have returned!
Favre is done, and we are all very sad
Tuesday, March 4, 2008, 10:26 am
Filed under: News, Random, football, green bay packers | Tags: brett favre, green bay packers, retirement
Filed under: News, Random, football, green bay packers | Tags: brett favre, green bay packers, retirement
CNN Face-to-face with top Hamas leader in secret location
CNN’s Cal Perry and Nic Robertson recently spoke with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. Perry describes the experience:
“DAMASCUS, Syria (CNN) — Sitting in a room with the top Hamas leader — a man Israel would prefer dead — is not an easy feeling, knowing that at any second a missile could shatter the building, killing everyone inside, myself included.
And, of course, it is no surprise why Israel has Khaled Meshaal at the top of its hit list. He is known to have ordered bombings that have targeted Israeli civilians, blowing up cafés, markets and malls across Israel.
CNN senior correspondent Nic Robertson and I recently sat down with Meshaal in a secret Hamas ’safe house’ in the middle of Damascus. Hamas security guards were all around, their automatic rifles draped over their shoulders. The walls were adorned with the pictures of Hamas members who have carried out suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis.”
To read the full article, click here
and to see the video, click here.
UPDATE: to see the breaking news interview, click here.
UPDATE: to see all five parts of the interview, click here.
