The killing this week of Lebanese television cameraman Ali Shaaban by Syrian forces sent a chilling message to Lebanon and caused a national uproar. While he was on an assignment in the northern town of Wadi Abu Khaled, Shaaban was gunned down and his car was struck by more than 40 bullets.
As women across the world take a moment to celebrate their numerous achievements in human rights, women in Lebanon continue to fight for theirs in an unrelenting patriarchal society.
The inner streets of Tripoli, the capital of northern Lebanon, bear witness to the poverty and deprivation that inhabit the homes of its residents, as well as the sense of alarm as the Syrian uprising rages on. The city houses a majority Sunni population, and smaller Alawite and Christian communities.
Two shootings of Fatah officials in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain El-Hilweh in southern Lebanon this month brought back memories of violence in the camps, which resulted in a three-month battle between the army and Islamist militant groups in 2007.
Walking in Hamra, one of Beirut's liveliest neighborhoods, one can't but notice both the vibrancy of the city's revived nightlife spot as well as the troubling presence of Syrian-affiliated Syrian Socialist National Party (SSNP) members.
Tensions between Lebanon's two political camps have peaked since the release of the Special Tribunal indictments, leading to clashes in Beirut and a major security violation in the South.
The Syrian regime is struggling to contain the ongoing protests in various towns across the country, but none are as challenging to it as Hama, a city of almost a million people that is now out of government control.
As Palestinian refugees and Syrians marched towards the Israeli border at the Golan Heights, marking the 1967 Naksa Day, the Lebanese border nearby witnessed an odd calm. Commemorating the 1948 Nakba Day last month, Palestinian refugees walking peacefully towards the border were shot by Israeli soldiers.
The Syrian government has intensified in recent days its brutal crackdown on the protesters calling for regime change, most notably in the town of Talkalakh near the Lebanese border.
The death toll in Syria's uprising has risen to 750 civilians since the protests began in March. According to human rights groups, around 10,000 Syrians have been arrested -- nearly all of them are still in detention.
