CAIRO – Arab newspapers which served for decades as mouthpieces for Hosni Mubarak, including dailies in Saudi Arabia, on Saturday hailed the Egyptian president’s ouster. “The people brought down the regime” and “the youth of Egypt forced Mubarak to leave,” read the frontpage headline of Egypt’s government-owned Al-Ahram, after having supported Mubarak throughout his 30-year rule.
The newspaper also saluted the social networking site Facebook, which was used by young activists to initiate the daily mass protests that ended Mubarak’s reign. “The Facebook revolution toppled Mubarak and the symbols of the regime,” it said, describing the Internet site as the “command council headquarters of the revolution.” A London-based Saudi daily, Asharq Al-Awsat, joined in the applause.
“The youth made it… Mubarak stepped down,” bold letters declared on the front page of the pan-Arab paper. “The rhythm of Egypt’s revolt shakes Iran,” headlined another page of the daily, owned by Riyadh, which is a main rival of Tehran but was Mubarak’s top ally in the region.
“While Iranians were celebrating the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic revolution (on Friday), the authorities” were afraid of the impact Egypt’s revolt would have “on the situation in Iran,” said the daily. Iranian authorities fear that revolts in the region could spread to the Islamic republic and spark “protests calling for the ouster of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government and its Islamist regime,” it said.