The website was operating normally by Friday. The attack is believed to have originated in Morocco. Speaking to Al-Watan Arabic daily, Dawood Al-Shourayan, chief editor of Alarabiya.net, said he suspected the attacker or attackers oppose the news channel’s editorial stances. “We believe this hacking is an extension of disturbances being caused by certain parties to Al-Arabiya channel’s work in some countries,” Al-Shourayan said. “We have been playing a media role and not trying to instigate any parties of the conflict.” He emphasized that his network does not know what the motives are. “Luckily the hackers targeted the front page only as a result it did not affect any basic information in the site,” he said. “Immediately we created an alternative page for it.” He said the French-based ISP for the website took measures to retrieve the main page quickly. Regarding hackers, Al-Shourayan added: “These people should understand that their actions are no longer effective in this modern world.”