November 20, 2008
Recent articles by Mohamad Bazzi
Bazzi previously served as Newsdays United Nations Bureau Chief. He has been a staff writer at Newsday since 1998, and has covered New York City transportation, the City University system and neighborhood issues.
He has covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Palestinian uprising. He has also reported from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Pakistan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and England.
For six months after the Sept. 11th attacks, he was on special assignment reporting on the rise of militant Islam. He traveled from London to Cairo to Pakistan chronicling the emergence of the Al-Qaeda network and its ideological roots.
Bazzi won a 2004 James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism for his Iraq coverage; a 2004 News Analysis Award from the NY Society of the Silurians for stories on Islamic militancy; a 2003 Silver Medal from the UN Correspondents Association for his UN coverage; and the 2002 Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Print Reporting on South Asia for his coverage of Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has also won three Newsday Publishers Awards.
He graduated in 1997 from the City University of New York, with a bachelors degree in urban studies.
REPORTING FROM LEBANON
Violence accents Hezbollah strike
BEIRUT, Lebanon - A nationwide strike organized by Hezbollah turned violent yesterday, pitting Shias against Sunnis and exposing how deeply entrenched sectarian tensions have become in Lebanon.
Decapitation of Saddam's half brother could increase tensions
Saddam Hussein's half-brother was decapitated Monday during his hanging in Baghdad, an incident likely to further inflame sectarian tensions across the Arab world.
Region's tensions on rise
By vowing to "interrupt" the flow of weapons and recruits for the Iraqi insurgency, President George W. Bush intensified his confrontation with Iran and Syria -- a move that is likely to create more instability in Iraq.
BAZZI IN BEIRUT
Hanging opens new rift
Across the Arab world, Sunnis called and sent text messages to one another last weekend to offer condolences for the death of Saddam Hussein.
ANALYSIS
Options in Iraq murky
BEIRUT, Lebanon - The summit between President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki leaves more questions than answers about future U.S. policy in Iraq.
REPORTING FROM LEBANON
Hussein died to taunts of 'Muqtada, Muqtada'
BEIRUT, Lebanon - After the noose was tied around Saddam Hussein's neck, several witnesses at his execution Saturday shouted: "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada."
Saddam died to taunts of 'Muqtada, Muqtada'
After the noose was tied around Saddam Hussein's neck, several witnesses at his execution Saturday shouted: "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada."
Timing of execution could fuel divisions
The timing and drama surrounding Saddam Hussein's execution makes it likely that he will become a martyr for Sunni nationalists fighting U.S. forces and the new Iraqi government.
The portrait of a dictator
For two decades, the most common feature of Iraq's barren landscape were heroic portraits of Saddam Hussein. He appeared as a Bedouin riding a white horse, a revolutionary in a black beret or a devout Muslim with his head bowed in prayer.
REPORTING FROM LEBANON
Equal power, unequal population
BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Lebanese political crisis is rooted in a decades-old power sharing agreement among rival religious groups, but that deal no longer reflects the country's makeup.
Bazzi in Beirut
Lebanon struggles to break ties with the past
The Lebanese political crisis is rooted in a decades-old power sharing agreement among rival religious groups, but that deal no longer reflects the country's makeup.
Assassination analysis: Lebanon on edge of civil war
With the assassination of a prominent Christian politician Tuesday, Lebanon is on the edge of another civil war.
Hezbollah cracked the code
Hezbollah guerrillas were able to hack into Israeli radio communications during last month's battles in south Lebanon, an intelligence breakthrough that helped them thwart Israeli tank assaults, according to Hezbollah and Lebanese officials.
Evolving Al-Qaida still a threat
Since Sept. 11, the militant network founded in the late 1980s by alleged terror mastermind Osama bin Laden has transformed itself from a centralized group into small, localized cells and affiliated groups, carrying out smaller-scale attacks. But experts say al-Qaida is still looking to carry off the next "big one" - an attack as deadly as the one on the World Trade Center.
REPORT FROM LEBANON
Turning rubble into rhetoric
Hezbollah has a message for everyone entering this south Beirut neighborhood: The devastation all around was "Made in USA."
Annan pushing diplomacy
On his first visit to the Middle East since war broke out last month, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan demanded yesterday that Hezbollah turn over two Israeli soldiers it abducted to the Lebanese government, and he urged Israel to lift its blockade of Lebanon.
REPORTING FROM LEBANON
Remorse over abductions
In his first public expression of regret over the abduction of two Israeli soldiers, Hezbollah leader Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah said yesterday that he would not have ordered the troops' capture if he had known it would lead to a full-scale war with Israel.
A rescue gone awry
Dressed in Lebanese army uniforms and ready with several Arabic speakers, an Israeli commando team that landed near the city of Baalbek was apparently trying to rescue two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah last month, according to a senior Lebanese security official.
A threat against militants
Lebanon's defense minister warned yesterday that anyone who violates a week-old truce by firing rockets at Israel will be tried for treason before a military tribunal.
REPORT FROM LEBANON
Threatening the peace
The nearly week-old cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah was seriously tested for the first time yesterday, when Israeli commandos carried out a raid deep inside Lebanese territory and fought with Hezbollah guerrillas for an hour.
REPORTING FROM LEBANON
Disarming Hezbollah left unclear
The Lebanese government yesterday ordered 15,000 troops to move into the country's south to take control as Israeli forces withdraw after 34 days of fighting with Hezbollah.
REPORT FROM LEBANON
Talk of peace, but cease-fire unclear
When is a cease-fire not really a cease-fire?
Terror plot bears the hallmarks of al-Qaida
It bears all the hallmarks of al-Qaida: simultaneous suicide bombings against political or economic soft targets, designed to inflict heavy casualties and spread fear.
REPORT FROM LEBANON
A pact for peace?
The United States and France have agreed on the framework of a new United Nations resolution to end a month of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, according to sources in the Lebanese prime minister's office.
REPORTING FROM LEBANON
Hezbollah's arsenal inflicting heavy toll
Most of the Israeli military casualties in south Lebanon - including a majority of the 15 killed yesterday - have been caused by Hezbollah's powerful arsenal of anti-tank missiles, according to a senior Lebanese security official.
Peril on the streets
All but the crazy or the desperate are staying inside now or perhaps walking gingerly under awnings at the side of the road and in the narrow alleys of Tyre's old city. Yesterday and the night before, Israel delivered the message that any moving vehicle was now a target.
REPORTING FROM LEBANON
Hospitals facing up to their worst fear
A dozen infants lie in incubators, with humming machines and gentle violet lights overhead. In some rooms, a nurse sits next to each premature baby, meticulously recording vital signs.
Lebanon raps UN bid
Lebanese leaders condemned a draft United Nations resolution yesterday that aims to end fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, raising doubts about whether a cease-fire would hold.
Progress toward peace?
After 25 days of war, there is a first sign of a potential cease-fire: The United States and France agreed yesterday on a draft United Nations resolution to end fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.
REPORTING FROM LEBANON
A warning, talk of cease-fire
For the first time since war broke out three weeks ago, Hezbollah's leader threatened yesterday to strike at Tel Aviv if Israel attacks central Beirut.
Many rockets remain
Despite the intense Israeli bombardment of the past three weeks, Hezbollah still has several hundred medium-range rockets and a few dozen longer-range missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv and other cities in central Israel, according to a senior Lebanese security official.
Reverberations from years ago
In the Arab world, the word Qana means one thing: the scene of an Israeli attack 10 years ago that killed more than 100 civilians.
'A thousand new bin Ladens'
On the eve of the U.S. presidential elections in 2004, Osama bin Laden finally explained why he attacked the World Trade Center.
Border town center of conflict
Israeli troops had besieged Bint Jbeil when Nabil and Souad Hammoud finally decided to leave the southern city Monday afternoon.
REPORTING FROM LEBANON
Hezbollah relishes the grinding street fights
When Israeli planes were bombarding southern Lebanon and the outskirts of Beirut last week, Hezbollah's leader lamented his group could do nothing to stop it.
REPORTING FROM LEBANON
No cease-fire deal
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Beirut yesterday but offered Lebanese leaders little hope of a quick cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
ANALYSIS: THE GROUND OPERATION
Lebanon expecting a full-scale invasion
From the moment Hezbollah's abduction of two Israeli soldiers provoked a war, one question has dominated the debate: Will Israel invade Lebanon as it did in 1982?
A view of devastation
The smell of dust and rubble wafts half a mile away. It is a mixture of pulverized concrete, electrical wiring and asbestos. It burns the eyes and throat.
Lebanon's leader lashes out at West
A week after Hezbollah's abduction of two Israeli soldiers provoked a war that Lebanese leaders are powerless to stop, the government here has finally started to speak out.
Lebanese seek solace from bombings
In an abandoned parking garage on the outskirts of Beirut, about 4,000 people have taken refuge four stories underground. There's no sunlight, no fresh air, no cell phone signals.
Americans flee Lebanon crisis
With Americans stuck in embattled Lebanon protesting that the United States is moving too slowly to get them out, the United States announced plans to begin a massive and potentially dangerous full-scale evacuation at dawn today.
Q&A: Understanding the hostilities in the Middle East
After seven days of Middle East fighting, is there a serious effort to find a diplomatic solution?
Hezbollah displaces, and helps, the faithful
They tried to hold out as long as they could.
REPORTING FROM LEBANON
Militant promises more attacks
Once again, the leader of Hezbollah showed yesterday that he can rattle Israel with a precision attack and new military capabilities.
Starting a war on his own
He holds no elected office, and no other Lebanese leader can veto his decisions. Yet Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Shia militant group Hezbollah, has single-handedly dragged Lebanon into a war with Israel during the past five days.
Airline operators, security forces stand by on shaky ground of Beirut airport
Neither a hail of Israeli missiles nor burning fuel tanks could keep Shehadeh Zaiter from showing up to work.
REPORTING FROM BEIRUT
Battle's rapid escalation
Israel launched its most intense attack yesterday on Lebanon in 24 years, bombing Beirut airport twice, attacking two military bases, imposing a naval blockade, and destroying bridges and roads throughout the country.
An abduction vow is renewed
The last time Hezbollah abducted Israeli soldiers, the Shia militant group was richly rewarded.
Analysis: Wider war feared in mideast
With the audacious kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid yesterday, the Shia militant group Hezbollah could ignite a full-scale war in the Middle East.
Suspect eyed NY subways
The Lebanese man accused of masterminding a plot to bomb PATH trains also considered sending suicide bombers into New York subway cars with explosive-filled backpacks, a Lebanese security official said yesterday.
Hamas leader seeks exchange
Hamas' top leader emerged from hiding yesterday in Syria and vowed that the crisis over a kidnapped Israeli soldier would not end unless Israel agrees to a prisoner exchange.
Other targets in mind
Before Assem Hammoud and his associates decided to try to bomb New York's PATH trains, they had considered several other targets: the Brooklyn Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge and the forests of California, where they would set a huge fire, Lebanese security officials told Newsday.
REPORTING FROM LEBANON
Man behind the terror plan
He was told not to grow a beard, or wear Islamic clothing, or show any outward sign of religious devotion.
Plot was derailed in early stages
For at least a year, eight followers of al-Qaida scattered across six foreign countries discussed how to send suicide bombers to blow up PATH tunnels under the Hudson River, but their plans never came close to realization, U.S. officials said Friday.
REPORTING FROM SYRIA
In Syria, Hamas in hiding
Fearful of Israeli assassination, the top Hamas leaders who operate out of Syria are living on the run.
REPORT FROM SYRIA
He keeps everyone talking
As the body of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was flown by helicopter from Egypt to his West Bank burial place in November 2004, two men sat alongside the coffin.
REPORTING FROM SYRIA
Soldier's seizure may add new pressure on Hamas
The crisis over a kidnapped Israeli soldier in Gaza has extended to Syria.
Iran's nuclear power play
An offer by the United States and five other powers to end the nuclear impasse with Tehran has ignited a struggle within the Iranian regime over who will ultimately control its nuclear policy.
For al-Qaida in Iraq, brutality unabated
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead, but his brutal tactics live on.
Tracking elusive successor to al-Zarqawi
American military commanders say they have identified the elusive militant who claimed to succeed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Al-Qaida mystery man
Even in the shadowy world of militant Islam, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's successor is a mystery.
REPORTING FROM THE MIDEAST
Who will step in?
It won't be easy to replace Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as the public face of the Iraqi insurgency. He instigated sectarian warfare, used the media masterfully and lured scores of volunteer suicide bombers.
ZARQAWI'S FINAL YEARS
Radical killer with mythic status
The man who terrorized Iraq for three years got his start the same way many of today's leading Islamic militants did: he was a foot soldier in the CIA-backed jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.
DEATH OF AL-ZARQAWI
A killer gone, war lives on
Despite the death of its most visible leader, the insurgency in Iraq will likely go on.
Syria arrests top dissidents
Syria arrested 12 prominent dissidents this week in a new crackdown on those campaigning for political freedoms and improved relations with Lebanon.
Iran scoffs at Europe's nuke offer
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday ridiculed a European offer meant to persuade Iran to halt its uranium enrichment - even before the offer has been officially made.
Letters are tales of two Irans
As the world focuses on the showdown between Iran and the United States, there is a hidden struggle within the Iranian regime over how to deal with international pressure.
New plan from Iran
Iran's former top nuclear negotiator yesterday offered a new blueprint for resolving the showdown over his country's atomic program.
Iran's suave public face
With a president who denies the Holocaust and a looming showdown over its nuclear ambitions, Iran has a serious image problem.
ANALYSIS
Daunting challenges face new Iraqi leaders
Iraq's political deadlock might be over, but the road toward stability is long and treacherous.
Three hostages rescued
Without firing a shot, U.S. and British troops stormed a house on the outskirts of Baghdad yesterday and freed three Christian peace activists who were kidnapped last year.
IRAQ: 3 YEARS LATER
Cleric builds a faith-based foundation
In the cloistered world of Iraq's Shia clergy, no other cleric inspires the extreme of emotions that Muqtada al-Sadr does.
IRAQ: 3 YEARS LATER
Statesman by decree
As he walked into one of Shia Islam's holiest shrines, the cleric was greeted by hundreds of believers waving his picture and pumping their fists in the air. The surging crowd chanted, "With our blood, with our souls, we will sacrifice for you, Muqtada."
Saddam's court war continues
In the 24 years that he ruled Iraq, unchallenged and ever audacious, no one dared to prevent Saddam Hussein from finishing a speech.
THE IRAQ INSURGENCY
The lessons of Lawrence
If anyone can claim credit for inventing the improvised explosive device, it's Lawrence of Arabia.
THE IRAQ INSURGENCY
Where they learned to kill
Among the many sources of inspiration for Iraq's insurgents are battlefield tactics pioneered by the Lebanese group Hezbollah during its 18-year guerrilla war with Israel, security officials say.
The people's cleric
Perhaps more than anyone else, a soft-spoken, bespectacled Shia cleric named Abdulaziz al-Hakim could determine whether Iraq plunges into full-scale civil war or pulls back from the brink after last week's destruction of a main Shia shrine.
ANALYSIS
Worst-case scenario
The bombing of a major Shia Muslim shrine in Iraq on Wednesday was the fuse that lit a powder keg of sectarian conflict which has been brewing for over two years.