Beirut & Amman: Red banners with urgent tags appeared on many Arab TV stations yesterday, 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 web sites 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 Shaikh 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 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 stations' 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.
Meanwhile Al Zarqawi's older brother said yesterday that the family had anticipated the death for some time.
"We anticipated that he would be killed for a very long time," Sayel Al Khalayleh said in a telephone interview from Zarqa, the poor industrial town that Al Zarqawi called home and from which he derived his name.
"We expected that he would be martyred," he said, in a low voice, signalling his grief over the death of his brother.
"We hope that he will join other martyrs in heaven," he added.
Other family members declined to speak to reporters, who clustered around their homes.
