Lebanon is seeking to take legal action against American TV series Homeland for portraying Beirut as a city full of terrorists.
The popular CIA thriller, shown on Channel 4, shows terrorists being hunted in the dangerous streets of ‘Beirut’.
But Minister of Tourism, Fady Abboud, who has invested a lot of money reviving the city’s reputation as the Paris of the Middle East, is outraged at the ‘serious misrepresentations’ of the city.
He told the Telegraph newspaper: "We are following the case legally. I raised this at the cabinet meeting and the president asked the minister for justice and the minister of communications to see what can be done."
"I am calling on all young Lebanese adults to do what they need to do; to write blogs, to call the BBC and CNN to try to raise awareness that Beirut is not a city of Kalashnikov and war," he added.
The Homeland episode’s title, Beirut is Back, quotes a phrase used recently to describe its resurgence as a vibrant capital. Lonely Planet lists Beirut as one of the 10 greatest comeback cities in the world.
