Lead:
Syria's new authorities are systematically dismantling statues of political figures including Hafez al-Assad while erasing names of historical intellectuals from school textbooks, raising questions about preservation of national heritage and collective memory as the country undergoes rapid institutional change.
Top Stories:
Antar Dot Com — Director Joe Boueid and writer Jimmy Boueid have launched filming of a 30-episode comedy-drama series on Mar Mikhael Street in Beirut's Ashrafieh district. The production, scheduled for Ramadan 2027, will expand to other neighborhoods as the narrative develops.Egyptian series Talaa Nazil — The drama, directed by Hani Khalifa and distributed on the Shahid app, opens with a composer confessing to his manager-wife that he has married his former lover and fathered a child with her, marking an unflinching approach to polygamy narratives in Arab television.Afif Diab's Peugeot 504 — The novelist's new work published by Dar al-Farabi reconstructs the history of Lebanon's south through real and fictional characters, weaving together Palestinian revolution, civil war, and Israeli aggression across locations from Kafr Shouba to Arqoub.Dominique Eddé on Edward Said — Eddé's recently Arabic-translated work Edward Said: A Story of His Ideas traces the Palestinian thinker's intellectual development through friendship and disagreement, examining his relationships with literature, philosophy, and politics.Abdul Rahman al-Kawakibi removal — Syria's new educational materials have deleted the 19th-century reformer from school curricula, erasing the anti-Ottoman intellectual who authored The Nature of Despotism decades after his death.Coming Up:
Celine Dion returns to Paris in May 2027 for ten additional performances following her record-breaking 2026 residency, which generated 125.5 million dollars across 16 shows. Turkish actors Beren Saat and Ekin Koc reunite on screen after a decade since The Magnificent Century for the film All the Tired Horses, a drama following an actress confronting her husband's suicide and a young man surviving through petty crime in Istanbul's outskirts.