Tag Archives | syria

Surprise Gifts For Child Beggars in Beirut

By Rami on January 9, 2018 in Social

Child beggars have increased around Beirut over the past few years and at times can be quite irritating due to their aggressive attitude. I personally usually just avoid giving them any money because I know they’re certainly part of a scheme that exploits children and I never want to end up supporting such thing.

This guy however roamed around Hamra during Christmas time and randomly gave toys to some of the kids he found there on the street.

What caught my attention the most is that they all kept asking for more toys for their brothers and sisters. Not sure if they really meant it though or if they were just acting smart to get more stuff, but either ways the smile on their faces was absolutely priceless!

Needless to say, the government definitely needs to address this issue because no kids deserve to grow up this way on the streets.

Nostalgic Highlights Video of a Lebanese Football Match From Early Nineties

By Rami on July 6, 2015 in Lebanon

This is one blast from the past! Nejmeh Sporting Club page on Facebook posted a nostalgic video from the early ninties of a football match between Nejmeh and Ansar on the club stadium in Manara.

The video shows the stadium in bad shape with no grass and a funny way to level it since the game took place shortly after the civil war has ended, moreover due to the limited role of the Lebanese security forces at that time you will notice that the Syrian army was in charge of keeping order.

The fans’ chantings sounded pretty amusing by the way and I wish the sport remained popular till our days since it really helped easing the struggle between the Sunna who in general used to cheer for Ansar and Shia who on the other hand cheered for Nejmeh. Back then there was really very little tension in the streets between the two sects and the implicit hatred towards each other used to be expressed in the stadiums only. Nowadays a simple disagreement between members of these sects threatens a new civil war. Time do change as they say…!

Anyway, make sure to watch the video as I’m sure it will bring you a lot of memories if you were born prior the mid eighties. Hussein Dokmak who joined Nejmeh in 1997 and later died in 2007 by the car bomb that targeted Walid Eido also appears in this video at the 1m10s mark, he’s the kid on the left holding the Nejmeh flag.

If the video doesn’t load then you can watch it here on Facebook.

Angelina Jolie is in Lebanon

By Rami on February 23, 2014 in Lebanon

Angelina Jolie Bekaa 2

According to tweep @sharbelfaraj, Angelina Jolie is currently secretly visiting Lebanon on a humanitarian mission and staying at Cristal Grand Hotel Kadri in Zahle, which explains why the army closed down the roads leading to the hotel.

If the news turns out to be true, it won’t be the first time for Angelina Jolie to visit Lebanon as she already came earlier in September 2012 to meet the Syrian refugees in Bekaa, and it’s quite brave of her to come again given the hard time the country is going through.

Update:

Annahar published today the below photo of Angelina visiting the refugees in Bekaa.

Virginia man arrested for trying to ship weapons to Lebanon

By Rami on December 26, 2013 in Lebanon

w460

Juging by his name, Sam Rafic Ghanem, he seems to be of Lebanese origin, but how stupid can he be? I mean doesn’t he know about the arms trade with Syria through the uncontrolled borders? Even kids here are playing with Klashinkoves, so we definitely need nothing from Virginia!

Sam Rafic Ghanem, owner of an international shipping company with offices in the Washington suburbs, was arrested Saturday after an FBI sting, ABC News said.

The intended recipient of the weapons is not clear, but at one point Ghanem claimed he was recently asked to obtain two guns for an unnamed member of the Lebanese government, according to court documents filed in the case.

Over the past few months, Ghanem and a former employee of his company, Washington Movers International, devised “a scheme to send weapons to Lebanon by hiding them inside automobile parts shipped by the company,” court documents allege.

The former employee, though, was working as “an undercover source for the FBI,” ABC News noted.

Last Saturday, the source picked up Ghanem from his Springfield, Virginia home and drove to Washington Movers International’s offices in Maryland, where Ghanem helped stuff 10 handguns, 10 semi-automatic rifles and 18 “optic devices” into doors and other parts of salvaged vehicles, an FBI agent alleged in charging documents.

The car parts were then loaded into a shipping container, but the weapons hidden inside were “fake,” according to the charging documents. Ghanem was subsequently arrested.

via Naharnet

Alexa as viewed from space

By Rami on December 17, 2013 in Lebanon

The Washington Post posted some photos that were taken yesterday by NASA of the snowstorm Alexa that hit the region last week.

The white areas on the land are all snow, another wider photo shows that even a northern area of Saudi Arabia got a little bit of snow.

On a side note, the author of the article might have to consider educating himself a bit more about the middle east as he thinks “it is quite something” to see snow around here and our neighbors!

NASA’s Earth Observatory has posted a photo of the storm taken from space. It was taken Dec. 15, after the storm had passed and the skies had cleared; the white areas on the land are snow, not clouds. It’s quite something to see the snow across Lebanon, Syria and Israel.

Krispy Kreme, Costa, TGI Friday’s and Signor Sassi closing down in Lebanon

By Rami on September 13, 2013 in Lebanon

I was just informed by a good friend at Americana Group in Lebanon that Krispy Kreme, Costa, TGI Friday’s and Signor Sassi are all closing down in Lebanon due to the turbulant time our economy is going through right now. Americana also manages KFC and Hardee’s as well, but these two are staying for now since they’re making profit.

I personally feel neutral about Costa, Friday’s and Signor, but I wish Krispy Kreme stays since I just love their donuts and prefer them over the overrated Dunkin’ Donuts.

It definitely sucks to be in the place of Americana or other big corporations who are all currently in survival mode, since everybody seems to prefer saving money than spending them on restaurants and luxury items. But I feel bad the most about the poeple who work at these places and will now be jobless, and these are mostly university students who work hard to pay their tuition fees.

I hope the warlords ruling this country are happy about the state we’ve come to!

In reply to the curfew imposed on Syrian refugees

By Rami on July 17, 2013 in Funny

We totally deserve it!

via Kamyoon

Charles Ayoub begs Bashar Al-Assad for money

By Rami on June 24, 2013 in What the fuck!

charlesayoub

I’m not sure what Charles Ayoub has been smoking lately, but it sure seems like good stuff. The man wrote an article literally begging the Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad to lend him $700,000 since his newspaper (Addiyar) is going through a financial crisis, otherwise he’ll have to act against his father’s will and sell his house!

You can read the whole article here.

Syrian TV Fail

By Rami on May 18, 2013 in Funny

via @TrellaLB

Barbar among CNN’s best kebab joints

By Rami on May 14, 2013 in Lebanon

barbar_shawarma

CNN chose Barbar among their favorite Kebab joints in the world for the chicken shawarma it offers, and they got it right as Barbar’s shawarma is one of the best in town. Four other joints were chosen from Turkey, Israel, Greece, and Iran.

I once tasted the shawarma they do in Turkey at a famous place called Saray in Istanbul and thought it’s pretty awesome. The spices they use are a bit different I guess, and they serve it on a bed of bread with tomato sauce on top and yogurt on the side. It beats the Lebanese shawarma anytime!

saray iskender

Also, one country I believe is missing from CNN’s list is Syria, since they’re known for their good kebab too. A good friend once took me to a quite old and famous restaurant called “Al-Siddiq” in an area called “Al-Qanawat” in Damascus, and its shawarma was really out of this world. The portion you get there is pretty generous with a pita bread on top, and also tastes much better than our Lebanese shawarma. If only the country is not at war now!

Al siddiq Photo via illaf.net

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