Rule 1: 1. أَمَّا ... فَـ 'as for ..., ...'
To single out a topic and contrast it with another, Arabic puts أَمَّا before it and فَ before the comment: أَمَّا الْفَرِيقُ الْأَوَّلُ فَكَانَ يُرِيدُ ... as for the first party, it wanted .... The فَ is obligatory, and what follows it is a complete sentence. The noun after أَمَّا takes the case it would have in that sentence: nominative as subject, accusative as object (أَمَّا الْكِتَابَ فَقَرَأْتُ as for the book, I read (it); if a pronoun refers back to it, the nominative is preferred: أَمَّا الْكِتَابُ فَقَرَأْتُهُ). Pairs of أَمَّا ... فَ are the usual way of setting out two sides.
أَمَّا الرَّئِيسُ الْجَدِيدُ فَهُوَ تَاجِرٌ مَعْرُوفٌ.
amma r-raʾīsu l-jadīdu fa-huwa tājirun maʿrūfun
As for the new president, he is a well-known merchant.
أَمَّا أَخِي فَلَمْ يَشْتَرِكْ فِي الِانْتِخَابَاتِ.
ammā akhī fa-lam yashtarik fi l-intikhābāti
As for my brother, he did not take part in the elections.
أَمَّا الْفَرِيقُ الْأَوَّلُ فَقَبِلَ، وَأَمَّا الثَّانِي فَقَاطَعَ الِاجْتِمَاعَ.
amma l-farīqu l-awwalu fa-qabila, wa-amma th-thānī fa-qāṭaʿa l-ijtimāʿa
The first party accepted, while the second boycotted the meeting.