Syria

Free Syrian Army: How to Not Help

An OC refugee thought he had found a way to end his country's civil war. Then the FBI found his laptop computer

Knafeh Cafe's 99 Ways of Sweet

[Hole In the Wall] This Anaheim bakery sells the best Middle Eastern pastries in Orange County

Syrian Revolution's Second Anniversary is Commemorated in OC This Weekend

A weekend of events will be held in Orange County to commemorate the second anniversary of the Syrian Revolution.To kick things off, the Council on American-Islamic Relations Greater Los Angeles Area office in Anaheim (CAIR-LA) is joining the Syrian American Council LA chapter in presenting an edu ... More >>

Hekmat Shehabi, Controversial Ex-Syrian Army Chief of Staff, Dies in OC

Syrian state run television announced yesterday that Hekmat Shehabi, the former chief of staff of the nation's armed forces, had died. The Syrian army's general command gave few details surrounding the circumstances of his passing. He was 82 years-old and residing in Orange County at the time of his ... More >>

The Plight of the Tortured (as Opposed to the Torturers for a Change) Gets Big Screen Due

Hollywood's awards season has plopped onto red carpets many stars and players from films and television shows (think Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Homeland) that glorify CIA agents, with director Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker follow-up drawing the most controversy for its scenes of American-endorsed t ... More >>

Straight Outta Syria

Orange County is home to growing numbers of refugees from that country's growing civil war

Syrian American OC Resident Brings Medical Supplies To Syria

As geopolitical gridlock stymies international aid in Syria, expatriates and Americans of Syrian descent are taking it upon themselves to travel to the region and medically assist refugees on border towns and residents inside Syria. One of them is Omar Chamma, who resides in Fountain Valley with hi ... More >>

Group Plans To Protest Arab American Festival in Garden Grove This Weekend Because Founder Supports Syrian Dictator

Local Syrian activists are planning a protest against the 17th annual Arab American Day Festival in Garden Grove because they claim its founder's Arabic-language newspaper supports Syrian ruler Bashar Al-Assad's regime, which has cracked down on pro-democracy protesters in a brutal conflict that has ... More >>

Police: Welcome To Anaheimistan; Now Obey Our Whims or Die

It's a historical fact that the biggest threat to the citizens of any nation isn't outsiders but their own government's police and military--the folks with all the guns, arrest powers and unwavering insistence that their own violence is committed only as a means to peace.For proof, glance at the his ... More >>

[UPDATED First Official to Defect:] Hazem Chehabi, Syria's Honorary Consul General/UC Irvine Foundation Board Member, Resigns Consul Post

UPDATE: May 30, 1:13 P.M.: Hazem Chehabi, longtime Syrian honorary consul general, is the first diplomat to defect from President Bashar Al-Assad's government, according to the Syrian American Council. The national pro-revolutionary group lauded Chehabi's resignation from his 18-year-long post as c ... More >>

Rapper Omar Offendum to Perform at UCI's 'Sounds for Syria' Fundraiser

Friday's massacre of 108 people, including dozens of children, in the Syrian town of Houla, has been roundly condemned by world powers as fears of a protracted civil war take hold. This weekend's horrific violence is the latest episode since a 14-month long uprising openly challenged the regime of B ... More >>

Syrian Musicians Asala Nasri and Malek Jandali Criticize the Government, Get Death Threats

As violence continues to plague Syria, superstar singer Asala Nasri is joining forces with award-winning composer and pianist Malek Jandali. The two will take to the stage Sunday at the City National Grove of Anaheim, generously lending their time and support for a benefit concert. Proceeds from "Fo ... More >>

Local Syrians to Rally Against Assad Regime in Anaheim on Saturday

Southern California's Syrian-Americans and their allies are planning a protest against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad as an internationally agreed upon ceasefire fails to take hold. The action is scheduled to take place on the corner of Brookhurst Street and Orange Avenue in Anaheim's Littl ... More >>

Omar Offendum on "#SYRIA": "It isn't just the music; it's really the message the government is afraid of"

The music video to the song #SYRIA opens up with 400,000 demonstrators flooding the streets in the largest-ever protest against Syrian ruler Bashar Al-Assad in early July, 2011, just a few months after the revolution's outbreak. The masses chant, "al-shaab yureed isqat al-nitham," which translates t ... More >>

Groups Sign a Letter Urging UCI Cut Ties with Syria's Honorary Consul General

​Several organizations have signed an open letter addressed to the UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake demanding the immediate removal of a Syrian diplomat from the UCI Foundation's board of trustees. The letter was sent two weeks after the student government voted in favor of legislation calling f ... More >>

Hazem Chehabi Is Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's Man in OC

The Newport Beach doctor is a UC Irvine philanthropist, Syria's honorary consul general—and the target of activists who call him an apologist for a brutal regime

Omar Offendum's #SYRIA Sings to the Tune of the Arab Spring Protests

​In the early days of the Tunisian revolution, back in December 2011, Tunisian rapper El General (Hamada Ben Aoun) wrote a song called "Rayes Lebled" (president of our country). In it, El General hurls his pain and frustration at longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, urging him to see that th ... More >>

UCI Students Vote to Oust Syrian Official from Board of Trustees

​Last night, after weeks of postponing a vote, the University of California, Irvine's student government passed legislation calling for the immediate removal of Syria's honorary consul general Dr. Hazem Chehabi from the school's board of trustees. Inside the student center's Moss Cove Room, a crow ... More >>

Syrian Americans Drive From Anaheim To NYC To Thank Family of Slain Journalist

​They could have gone with a thank-you card. Instead, an overachieving group of Syrian Americans have packed into a couple vans and are headed to New York to show their gratitude to the family of Marie Colvin, an American journalist who died last month while covering the Syrian conflict.At 3: ... More >>

[UPDATED with Vote Delayed Again:] Students Call for UCI Board Member Hazem H. Chehabi's Ouster over Syria Ties

​UPDATE, MARCH 8, 3:21 P.M.: A proposal to call for Dr. Hazem H. Chehabi's removal from the UC Irvine Board of Trustees over his ties to the brutal Syrian regime will not be presented tonight to the Legislative Council of the Associated Students (ASUCI) as originally planned.The matter is now s ... More >>

Geoffery Shively, Newport Beach Occupier, Praised (and Not) for Syria Livestreaming

​A Newport Beach man and another Occupy movement member out of San Francisco are being credited by the Guardian and sites like Gawker with entering Syria on three occasions to capture 10 to 15 hours of footage about life there. Geoffrey Shivley, who spent most of his adult life working in comput ... More >>

Local Art Exhibit Seeks to Raise Funds for Syrians in Need

Sama Wareh and her art piece 'Starts With One"​As the now 11-month old uprising continues in Syria against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the death toll continues to mount. The opposition stronghold Syrian city of Homs has faced continued shelling this week. Those who survive do so on dwindling fo ... More >>

Ahmad Alam Turns to Facebook to Promote His Competing Vision of Little Arabia

​Since the Weekly profiled the Anaheim ethnic enclave unofficially known as 'Little Arabia' in a January cover story, hundreds of folks on Facebook have 'liked' the neighborhood page that has existed since 2010 on the social networking site, sending its total to over 1,100. Rashad Al-Dabbagh, who ... More >>

Little Arabia Grows Up

Can one of the country's largest Middle Eastern neighborhoods patch up its rivalries to become OC's next famous ethnic enclave?

[UPDATED with Syria Convoy News] Violent Repression in Syria Claims Relative of Anaheim Businessman Bill Dalati

Bill Dalati​UPDATE JAN 17, 3:38 P.M.: Anaheim Businessman Bill Dalati returned back to OC yesterday from the Liberty Convoy for Syria. As Reuters, Al Jazeera, and other news agencies reported on Thursday, the group of about 150 expatriate activists were unable to deliver food and medical supplies ... More >>

Hazem Chehabi, Syrian Consul General and UCI Foundation Chairman, Draws Another Protest

UCI.edu2010 UCI Medal Award winners Salma and Hazem Chehabi​After a few months of monitoring and protesting against the Syrian government's mistreatment of its own citizens, some Southern California Syrians are turning their ire back at Newport Beach radiologist and philanthropist Dr. Hazem Cheha ... More >>

Aasif Mandvi, Daily Show Correspondent, Coming to Anaheim to Scoop up CAIR Award

​The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) of Greater Los Angeles, which is based in Anaheim, will bestow its 2011 Courage in Media Award to Indian-British actor and comedian Aasif Hakim Mandviwal.He's better known as Aasif Mandvi, the hilarious correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stew ... More >>

Futures of Syria and Bashar Assad Aired at Town Hall

​The focus of the international media may have switched from Syria to Israel-Palestine (for now), but that won't stop the Los Angeles chapter of the Syrian American Council from holding its third town hall meeting in Anaheim Saturday to examine the current situation and future outlook for members' ... More >>

Who's Gagging Whom In the Irvine 11 Case?

The First Amendment, academic freedom and Islamophobia collide in an OC courtroom

Is Orange County Now Part Of The Arab Spring? Local Activists Are Using Social Media To Start A Boycott

​Using the hashtag "BoycottArabFest" activists are calling on locals not to attend this month's Arab-American Day Festival in Garden Grove, because of the festival organizer's alleged support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his regime. They also created a Facebook event for the boycott, wh ... More >>

[UPDATED with UCI Nixing Meeting:] Dr. Hazem Chehabi Urged to Cut Ties With Syria's Brutal Regime or Step Down From UC Irvine Foundation Board

​UPDATE, JULY 8, 5:25 P.M.: Syrian freedom activists say that when they protested at UC Irvine the morning of June 9, a campus official promised a future meeting with an associate chancellor to discuss what they consider a troubling relationship between Syria's brutal regime and Dr. Hazem Chehabi, ... More >>

[UPDATED with UCI Promising Meeting:] Dr. Hazem Chehabi Urged to Cut Ties With Syria's Brutal Regime or Step Down From UC Irvine Foundation Board

​UPDATE, JUNE 9, 4:31 P.M.: This morning's rally at UC Irvine targeting Dr. Hazem H. Chehabi--the UCI Foundation's president-elect, Syria's honorary consul general in Newport Beach and a prominent Orange County philanthropist and nuclear medicine specialist--went "smooth," according to an organize ... More >>

[UPDATED with Medical Office Protest Set:] Hazem Chehabi, Physician and Syria Consul General, Urged to Cut Ties With "Brutal" Regime or Quit UCI Board

Chehabi​UPDATE, MAY 30, 10:37 A.M.: The Syrian Emergency Task Force-Greater LA has rallied outside the Syria Consulate office in Newport Beach and asked Dr. Hazem H. Chehabi to step down as honorary consul general (or for the UC Irvine Foundation to drop him from its board if he doesn't) over hum ... More >>

Will Syria Solidarity Ralliers in Anaheim Clash with Assad Supporters Like They Did in LA?

Neon Tommy​Hopefully those demonstrating in Anaheim Sunday in solidarity with peaceful protesters in Syria won't experience what happened in Los Angeles last Saturday.Fifty protesters gathered in front of the West LA federal building to cheer on Syria's opposition movement and condemn dictator Ba ... More >>

Syrians Take Protest to Consulate General in Newport Beach Today

​Events are moving fast across Northern Africa and the Middle East, and Syria is no exception. To protest the massacre of peaceful freedom fighters in the streets of their homeland, Syrian Americans throughout Southern California are gathering at the Consulate General of Syria in Newport Beach fro ... More >>

Behold John Bolton and His Moustache at Balboa Bay Club

John Robert Bolton, the neocon's neocon, laps up the hosannas of fellow knuckle-draggers May 28 when he is the special guest of the World Affairs Council of Orange County. The nonprofit, 500-member council--which since its 1967 founding has hosted Prince Andrew, Vicente Fox, Hans Blix and several ot ... More >>

[¡Ask a Mexican!] From Puebla to Palestine

A Fresh Wave of Globally Minded Music Websites Will Broaden Your Horizons

This Is the Voice

The Gossip could follow a botched cockfight

Commie Girl

Bullet Dodged! Dancing on 9/11 minus four

Diary of Mad County

July 12 - July 18

DeVore Cries Havoc

"Look at it burning." -Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader, speaking as his group's rockets struck a US-made Israeli warship Well, we're in for it now. Israel, Lebanon and Palestine are at each others' throats. Amr Moussa, General-Secretary of the Arab League, has declared the Middle East pea ... More >>

Where Is OCs Missing Terrorist?

Terror suspect Khalil Deek moved from an Anaheim apartment to a Jordanian prison. Current whereabouts unknown

Laugh At His Pain

Christopher Titus funnies up the abusive-alcoholic dad/husband-murdering schizophrenic mom thing

This Hole-In-The-Wall Life

Serious Stuff

Whitey and War

Diary of a Mad County

Throwing the Book at Us

Diary of a Mad County

Slick Talk