REPORTS

The Iranian elections have raised a stir in the Arab media and vibrated strongly in Arab capitals. Media outlets close to the positions of Syria, Hizbullah, and Qatar show a clear bias towards the Iranian official line, while outlets close to the camp that fears Iran, especially in the Arab Gulf, anticipate a breakdown of the Iranian government, similarly to the revolution of 1979. Sami Moubayed however doubts that that the current events will lead to radical changes and suggests that while Iran’s Arab allies will stay put, waiting for it to settle its internal affairs, its adversaries will eventually face disappointment. Read...

Sami Moubayed is editor-in-chief of Forward Magazine in Syria. He is a writer, university professor, and historian based in Damascus, and author of “Steel & Silk: Men and Women Who Shaped Syria 1900-2000” (2006).