Lebanese band Mashrou Leila release anti-occupation music video

Lebanese band Mashrou Leila have released the music video for its new song 'Cavalry', a gripping potrayal of the injustices of military occupation and those who resist them.

The opening shot shows a young girl shouting at a soldier as a tank pulls up to her house - echoing the fierce resistance of Ahed Tamimi who became famous around the world for a 2017 video depicting her slapping an Israeli soldier.

The music video for Cavalry, released on Friday and directed by Jessy Moussallem, portrays soldiers searching through children's bedrooms, arresting the young men of the household and cutting off the branches of an olive tree.

"Cavalry is about putting up a fight, even when the odds are stacked against us, and not letting political fatigue destroy our willingness to speak truth to power," the band posted on Facebook.

Cavalry is the first single to be released from their upcoming fifth album entitled 'The Beirut School'.

Read also: Mashrou Leila light up London's Roundhouse in edgy defiance

The five-member indie band's songs challenge various established norms in Arab societies, such as gender roles and sexual and religious freedoms.

The band, whose lead singer is openly gay, have been banned from performing in Jordan over accusations that the band's music violates the kingdom's traditions and is blasphemous.

"Western media often describe us as something out of the ordinary: an Arab band with a homosexual lead singer and controversial lyrics (for the region). We are not that special," the band told The New Arab in an exclusive interview.

While the band performed in Egypt in 2017 audience members were arrested for unfurling a rainbow LGBT flag.