News of Al-Zarqawi death flashes across Arab world

Red banners with urgent tags appeared on many Arab TV stations today, as the region’s major stations broke into regular programming to announce some of the biggest news in months – the death of terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Islamic extremist websites were also quick to carry the news – and in their case, lament it.

A note posted on one website – known as a clearinghouse for al-Qaida in Iraq statements – shortly after the news of al-Zarqawi’s death broke on TV lamented: “We hope this news is not true.”

“If Sheikh al-Zarqawi has died, he will go to heaven, God willing, and there will be 200 million al-Zarqawis after him,” said another note posted on the same site.

The Islamic websites generally carried news from other Arab media, such as the news bulletins that appeared on Al-Arabiya television, and did not confirm the news themselves.

And while the news broke into most major Arab station’s programming, some state TV stations largely ignored it: Government-run TV stations in Syria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen continued with regular programming even as al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera were flashing alerts.

Those countries’ TV normally are slow to report breaking news because it first needs to be cleared by officials before it can be aired.

In Yemen, the official TV showed an archaeological programme, followed by scenic views of Yemen and then an Egyptian soap opera 90 minutes after the news emerged.

In Saudi Arabia, a programme on the importance of women remaining connected to their environment was playing on the official station one full hour after the news broke elsewhere.

And in Syria, a the government-run station showed a call-in programme that deals with citizens’ concerns. News of al-Zarqawi’s death appeared only in a news bar running at the bottom of the screen.

However, other TV stations were faster – flashing banners such as “News of al-Zarqawi’s killing”, shortly before Iraqi prime minister Nouri Maliki made the announcement on TV.

After Maliki’s news conference, the stations showed clips from al-Zarqawi’s latest appearance in a videotape aimed at rallying supporters. They also hosted analysts and experts to discuss the implications of al-Zarqawi’s death.

“This is the most important news not only in the past few weeks but also for the next few weeks,” said Nabil al-Khatib, the executive editor of the Dubai-based satellite Al-Arabiya TV.

“Al-Zarqawi has been a key player not only in Iraq but also in the whole region. Therefore, his absence will have an impact on the course of political developments,” he said.