Dina Shihabi in Ghosts of Beirut (Showtime)
Ghosts of Beirut is a new television mini-series from the creators of Fauda, the Israeli TV show that became an international sensation.
A four-part spy drama based on what the creators call one of the greatest espionage stories of modern times, “Ghosts of Beirut” is about the manhunt for Imad Mughniyeh, the elusive Lebanese terrorist who outwitted his adversaries in the CIA and Mossad for over two decades. The limited series, airing on Showtime, features an “innovative narrative approach augmented by deep journalistic research and documentary elements.”
Based on a true story, Mugniyeh, says the producers, took terrorism to deadly new levels, creating public martyrs out of anonymous suicide bombers. As CIA and Mossad operatives were haunted by Imad’s actions, they unexpectedly join forces in a high-stakes international chase to finally find and take down the man known as “the ghost.”
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“Ghosts of Beirut” also features an international cast including American and Israeli actors, and even one actress from Saudi Arabia – Dina Shihabi.
Two of the show’s creators include Avi Issacharoff, who created Fauda, and Lior Raz, the Israeli actor who stars on Fauda.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Avi Issacharoff explained how he came to make “Ghosts of Beirut.”
“Well, for me, I was kind of longtime reporter, journalist, analyst for Middle East issues working for Haaretz newspaper back in 2006 when the Israeli-Lebanese war–the second war in Lebanon started,” he said.
Issacharoff talked about how he covered the war as a journalist and later on published a book called “34 Days” written with Amos Harel.
“I researched Hezbollah in Lebanon, and through the research, you know, I got familiar more with a very prominent figure inside Hezbollah, who was the head of the military wing inside Hezbollah, Imad Mughniyeh,” he said.
“Later on, I wrote my thesis in my master’s degree in Middle Eastern studies about Hezbollah and Iranian connection, and over there, again, the name of Imad Mughniyeh was mentioned over and over again,” added Issacharoff. “Wherever I looked, wherever I researched, Imad Mughniyeh was this kind of a figure. So it became for me a kind of, almost an obsession, a white whale or whatever you want to call it.”
Ghosts of Beirut stars Israeli-Arab actor Amir Khoury as the young Imad Mughniyeh and Iranian actor Navid Negahban as Ali-Reza Asgari, an Iranian general. Other Israeli actors appearing in the series include Yuval Scharf and Iddo Goldberg. Unfortunately, while he is credited as a writer and a producer on the series, Lior Raz does not appear in front of the camera this time.
