The Black Beach

This patch of beach is known as Ramlet el-Baida, which roughly translates to "The White Sands". Israeli irony?

The Ministry of Environment contends that Israeli warships parked near the Lebanese coast have been dumping this sludge into the Mediterranean sea. An environmental catastrophe is approaching.

See more pics here.

Israel Kills Young Terrorists (!?)

See more pics here.

Post-Qana II Thoughts

1- Following the Qana II massacre (coincidental?), Lebanese PM Fuad Siniora said he would not have Condoleezza Rice visit the country until the war issue is settled. Rice's spokespersons immediately issue a statement saying She (capital S) had not intended to visit Lebanon in the first place. Why do politicians act like kids?

2- Rice's press conference in the wake of the massacre was quite humorous. Despite the fact that some 65 civilians (27 children) were killed in Lebanon, Rice was focusing on the rockets that were dispatched by Hezbollah in Israel. Every time Rice answered a question from the reporters, she emphasized that the US was trying everything possible to end the war: She said that US efforts allowed humanitarian aid to enter Lebanon. She forgot to say that US missiles delivered to Israel were responsible for the massacres. She said Israel was bent on seeing that Lebanese civilians are unharmed in the clashes. She forget to say that Israel ordered Lebanese citizens to evacuate the villages and then shelled the civilians as they escaped in buses.

3- The Lebanese protesters should not have attacked the UN headquarters in downtown Beirut. It undermined their demonstration. I'm sure the protests really pleased many western viewers, who are naturally biased against Arabs.

4- Sunday was a very quiet day in Beirut. I think the birds have migrated, except for the vultures, who have found south Lebanon to be an abundant feeding ground.

late night rumor

Here's a small story whose authenticity I could not check. Nevertheless, the contents of the story, regardless of whether true or not, carry some form of truth concerning the sectarian tension in the country.

According to the source, a small team of the Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar TV managed to salvage some equipment from the station’s HQ, which was demolished in the Israeli aggression. The team decided to set up shop in another location in Beirut and continue the broadcast. (Al-Manar was formerly located in the Southern Suburb of Beirut, Dahieh, which has been leveled by Israeli jet plane shells)

The story has it that the Al-Manar crew barged into an apartment in an upper-class neighborhood in Greater Beirut and set up their equipment.

Before long, i.e. within a couple of hours, the neighbors caught word of the newcomers and did not take a liking to the possibility of Israel jetfighters attacking their neighborhood. Taking matters into their own hands, the neighbors attacked the TV crew. The police arrived on the scene and put an end to the fighting. Needless to say, the Hezbollah-TV crew left the mainly Sunni neighborhood for a new (yet unknown) location.

There are many other rumors regarding Sunni-Shiite tension since Hezbollah angered their fellow Lebanese by taking a unilateral decision to kidnap Israeli soldiers in hope of trading them for Lebanese POWs.



NB: For those of you familiar with Beirut, the apartment overtaken by the unfortunate TV-crew was in the Sakiet el-Janzeer area behind the Koreitem shopping district. This additional detail does not in any way defend the validity of the rumor.

Al-Qaeda Studios Presents...

What a surprise. Al-Qaeda will not stand by and watch as Israel demolishes Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. 'Thus Spoke Zawahiri' in a video broadcast by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV yesterday.

A couple of things stood out in the video:

1. The Professionalism

If you ever have a chance to watch the video again, you might notice that Zawahiri, Qaeda's number 2 man, was reading from a projection screen. Although the physicist-turned-terrorist appeared to be preaching impromptu, a close look at his eyes reveals that he (like many news anchors) was reading from a screen.

To make matters even more interesting, a closer look at the Egyptian-born Zawahiri's eyes reveals that the 'studio' was well-lit. Zawahiri's glasses reflect the light from what appears to be a set of large projection lights, probably placed to bring out his best side.

The video's background, digitally produced, was also quite captivating despite that fact that it portrayed a total lack of creativity.

Now...just remember that Zawahiri & Co. are producing such nifty, well-edited and professional videos supposedly from some remote village in Pakistan (!). That's well done, if I do say so myself.

2. The Content

Suddenly, Osama Bin Laden's right-hand-man is promising to attack US and Israeli interests in retaliation for Tel Aviv's brutal approach to the Hezbollah dilemma. Zawahiri said, "The war with Israel does not depend on ceasefires...It is a Jihad for the sake of God and will last until (our) religion prevails ... from Spain to Iraq." Then he adds: "We will attack everywhere." In Qaeda lingo, this means "We will attack all Arab countries, killing Arab civilians under the pretext of harming US and Israeli interests."

What many viewers don't know is that, a few months back, Qaeda threatened to kill Lebanese Shiite figures, including Hezbollah figures and affiliates. Suddenly, Qaeda is Hezbollah's best friend.

This is no conspiracy theory. It's just that something just doesn't make sense.

Besides the War

For many Beirut-dwellers the war is taking place "somewhere else".

A 10-minute drive was all it used to take me to get to my aunt's house, which existed on the entrance to the Southern Suburb that is undergoing extensive Israeli shelling. But, astonishingly enough, these 10 minutes by car make all the difference.

Like most Beirut-dwellers, I can hear the salvos on the Southern Suburb, known as Dahieh. Like most Beirutis, the sound means nothing more than a temporary disturbance or upheaval.

Yesterday night, as I walked back home, I saw groups of young men (possibly displaced) who have gathered in fours to play cards on the street. A small table and a couple of arghileh (hubbly-bubbly, or bong?) are all that is needed. Meanwhile, buildings are brought down by missiles fired from unseen warships haunting the midnight coast.

Garbage has piled up on the streets as well. Rats, mosquitoes and cockroaches walk freely. This is the catastrophe. For many Beirut-dwellers, the war is taking place in a distant location; the truth is that the plague is slowly creeping up on Beirut. People are coughing, itching and developing weird diseases. This is the war.

You may have heard about the exchange of rockets between Haifa and Dahieh. You may have heard about the victims on both sides of the frontier. But what is not being said in the news is this: Beirut is drowning in its own rubbish as foreign labor, which previously operated the garbage trucks, fled. The news doesn't tell you that the children that, by some heavenly intervention(?), escaped Israeli tactical missiles have no defense against disease.

And, unfortunately, Israel is responsible for the missiles...not the garbage. We are drowning ourselves in our debris.

This is a call to all Lebanese people: Whatever you throw on the street will not walk away. Garbage doesn't fly away or disappear.

A New Approach

I've completely demolished my old blog (Beirut Afterhours) and am preparing to launch this new one. Please wait. There's a war at hand.

Thank you.