The website of al-Akhbar, the Lebanese leftist daily, was hacked yesterday. Readers who tried to access its site were treated instead to a glimpse of various web pages that implied a Saudi connection to the hacking.

The website in now shut down while technicians work to restore it – probably by Saturday, according to the Angry Arab who writes a column for it. The paper's print edition was not affected.

There can be little doubt as to why al-Akhbar was hacked. It's the only Arab newspaper seriously reporting on the Wikileaks documents (and in a specifically Arab context). It appears to have received a number of the documents relating to the Middle East ahead of other publications and has been posting the full English-language text on its website, along with commentary in Arabic.

Who did the hacking is a more difficult question. The Saudi connection implied by the hackers is plausible, though that could just be a smokescreeen. 

Writing for the Foreign Policy blog, David Kenner points to three cables in particular that were embarrassing for the Saudis: the Saudi foreign minister's proposal for an "Arab force" to combat Hizbullah, King Abdullah's advice that the US should "cut off the head of the snake" in Iran, and the report of a Halloween party (which I wrote about on Wednesday).

There has also been embarrassing stuff about Lebanese politics, plus criticism of the Moroccan monarchy (a no-go area within Morocco), and some very harsh words about the "sclerotic" regime in Tunisia.

It was reported on Monday that the Tunisian authorities were 
blocking access to al-Akhbar's website within the country, and I have heard separately that they are blocking everything that mentions Wikileaks (including my own blog here on al-bab).

Anyway, there is no shortage of potential Arab suspects for the hacking. The United States, of course, has also been doing its utmost to stop Wikileaks, but I don't really see an American hand at work here. For one thing, snatches of English among the Arabic posted by the hackers suggest someone who is not a native English speaker.

Then, I suppose, there's always Israel – a possibility that was actually suggested by one of al-Akhbar's editorial people, though I seriously doubt it. The Israelis may not like al-Akhbar but why attack it over Wikileaks? For as long as the documents continue to embarrass Arab leaders, wouldn't it be much better for Israelis just to sit back and enjoy the mayhem?