Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been a catalyst for fisticuffs on Arab television in recent months as his controversial and bloody crackdown inflames tempers across the Arab world.
On Tuesday, a Lebanese political analyst and vocal Assad supporter physically attacked a Syrian opposition activist on Al-Jazeera TV.
During a live broadcast of Al-Ittijah Al-Mu’akis (The Opposite Direction), Syrian opposition figure Muhieddine Ladkani criticized Assad supporter Joseph Abu Fadel’s opposition to Qatar’s position on the uprising against President Bashar Assad.
Ladkani implied Lebanon owed Qatar its political support due to Doha’s donations toward rebuilding Lebanon’s infrastructure. In 2007, Doha and Beirut launched a rehabilitation program for south Lebanon to which Qatar donated around $2 million for southern villages.
“I traveled to Lebanon after the [2006] war and I saw people in Beirut’s southern suburbs raising Qatari flags and saying, ‘Thank you, Qatar,’” Ladkani said.
“How come you are now criticizing the Arabs? Didn’t you personally raise a sign that thanked Qatar?” Ladkani asked. Abu Fadel denied Ladkani’s claims and quickly grew incensed. “Shut up!” he shouted, rising from his seat and threatening to beat up Ladkani.
Both men then rose from their chairs while hurling insults at each other, after which Abu Fadel circled the table to where Ladkani was standing.
This prompted the host, whose show is infamous for such Jerry Springer-esque confrontations, to intervene physically in an unsuccessful attempt to stave off Abu Fadel’s assault.
The episode was re-run Wednesday, with many of the insults and curses bleeped out.
In November 2011, Fayez Shukr, representing Lebanon's Baath Party – which has links to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's party of the same name – and former opposition MP Mustafa Alloush, came to blows over Assad's credibility in a late night talk show on Lebanon's MTV station.