On the eve of the 63rd edition of the Beirut Arab International Book Fair, social media was buzzing with the gigantic portrait of Qassem Soleimani, which was put in one of the exhibition’s pavilions, among books referring to him and others disseminating the culture of Wilayat al-Faqih. This sparked outrage among some who saw the pavilion as a sign of Iran’s domination of Lebanon.
It also denounced the attempt to stop a musical evening at the exhibition, because its program included national Lebanese songs.
Today, a major problem occurred in the Iranian pavilion, as a number of activists were beaten after they tried to remove Soleimani’s picture while chanting, “Free Beirut, Iran out now!”
To shed light on this issue, journalist Tony Boulos joined us via Zoom.