Israel-Lebanon fighting leads Arab media

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

OMAR SINAN
Associated Press

CAIRO, Egypt - For Arab news media, the war between Israel and Hezbollah is a fresh chapter in a tale with strong emotional pull and well-defined enemies, and has pushed Iraq to the back of newscasts and off front pages.

"Iraqi news was not been ignored by the Arab satellite channels' newscast, it still exists, but has decreased sharply in the last two weeks," said Sameeha Dahroug, the former head of Egypt's Nile satellite channel.

As with any breaking story, the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is new and more compelling than the bloody but murky Iraq conflict, which is in its fourth year, experts say.

The Israeli-Hezbollah struggle also better strikes emotional and historical chords with the Arab audience than does Iraq, where Arabs are fighting each other as well as the United States.

"In Lebanon, the case is completely different. We have a peaceful unarmed people, who are held close to every Arab heart, facing a destructive Israeli military machine - the first enemy of the Arabs - absolutely without pretext," Dahroug said.

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