Calm in Beirut

This city must be unique in the World in that, one week of near civil war can be followed by a week of total calm with people living their lives as if nothing happened.

After an Arab League delegation toured the various mansions of faction leaders here in Beirut, a deal was brokered to return to the negotiating table, but this time in Doha, Qatar. Two airplanes took off yesterday from Hariri International Airport, one full of the Majority and the other with the Opposition (of course Nasrallah stayed "at home" (Iranian Embassy in Beirut) due to security concerns and sent 3 Hezbollah representatives instead).

In October last year, after postponing the election of a president for a few times (the number is now at 19!), I recieved this photo of a clothes store in Beirut. I wonder if they kept that sales deal on since then!

In Beirut all is back to normal, roads have been unblocked and the airport is open again. There is still however many soldiers and tanks on street corners, which is something one has to get used to here.

I have been going to work every day this week as operations have resumed at UNRWA. Therefore lot's of work and late nights.

Unrest in Lebanon: Day 5

Today, Sunday, is day 5 of civil unrest in Lebanon. It has been calm in Beirut however heavy fighting took place in Tripoli in the North and in the mountains in the East of Beirut (a Druze stronghold). At the moment Walid Jumblat's (Druze) supporters are battling on with Hezbollah fighters in the mountains and are ignoring a call for a cease-fire. Even the army is struggling to contain them. The UN is currently deciding if staff can return to work tomorrow.

At least 30 people have died in the past 5 days. Only in Lebanon, can legitimate political parties (i.e. Hezbollah, Al Mustaqbal, Amal, PSP, etc) kill 30 of their own brothers and sisters, and return to Parliament victorious with increased political weight and credibility. Is this really serious?

I am trying to get some work done for UNRWA but it is difficult to concentrate in such circumstances. I was planning to work from our office in Tripoli next week, to finish work on the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp recovery plan. But I am quite sure security clearance will not be granted to move up there in the next coming days.

Unrest in Lebanon: Day 4 in the Evening

This afternoon, ten enormous army tanks rolled up my street probably moving towards an area which is a mixed Sunni/Shia neighbourhood. I only got a photo of the last two vehicules.












This afternoon Siniora addressed the people of Lebanon and called on a dialogue with opposition. I watched him on local TV.












The Lebanese government and the opposition have agreed on a deal to end hostilities. They decided to allow the Army to move in and take back the control of Beirut. The Army then overturned the two previous government decisions by reinstating the pro-Hezbollah general head of airport security and by keeping Hezbollah's telecommunication network active.

Local TV is reporting that gunmen are pulling out of the streets. However, some clashes are still going on in Tripoli in the North of Lebanon.

I am therefore hopefull that things are actually going to calm down completely now and that the airport will reopen soon.

Unrest in Lebanon: Day 4 in the Afternoon

A number of my international colleagues from UNRWA are now in the mountain area just outside Beirut as most of them were living in Hamra (West Beirut), an area which subject to most of the fighting. One of them had bullets fly through his window. So I am following events closely to keep them updated by SMS as things unfold in Beirut.

After the relative calm last night and this morning, things have started to fire up again. More roads have been blocked. Gunmen have entered the building of Hariri's Future TV station and destroyed broadcast equipment. The Armenian Radio station was also burnt down just an hour ago.

Lebanese army soldiers were deployed in some West Beirut neighbourhoods probably to demonstrate that the government still has some control over those areas. Two people just died and 12 were injured for a shooting at a Sunni funeral in Beirut.

In the North of Lebanon, in Akkar, gunmen have besieged Arabya TV journalists and taken heads of municipalities there. Tripoli and other areas in North Lebanon have been subject to violence during the day.

As a result, Lebanese journalists have started a march in favour of freedom of press and have arrived at Hariri's Future TV station.

Roads to the aiport and to the Syrian border remain closed with armed checkpoints.

As expected regional and world powers have started making statements about the situation, as reported in the Washington Post: Read Article and by CNN: Read Article. The US accuses Iran and Syria. Iran accuses the US and Israel and the Europeans are keeping quiet drawing up plans for the evacuation of their nationals as mentioned by Lebanon Now: Read Article

Now I am watching the Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora address the people of Lebanon on local TV.

Unrest in Lebanon: Day 4

We woke up this morning and quickly switched on the news as our radios were quiet. The BBC was reporting that Hezbollah fighters were moving off the streets of Beirut having taken control yesterday of West Beirut. We don't hear anymore shooting or RPGs. However according to our UN colleagues, the port road and the road to the airport remain blocked. Apparently Hezbollah will continue to block them until there is a political solution.
















The aim here was for Hezbollah to demonstrate is capabilities and has now also eliminated all pro-government militia, closed down pro-government media and controls the access to and from the airport.

The government is calling it a "bloody coup". This is what happens when militias remain armed after 15 years of civil war. Most other militias were integrated into the army. For that reason, these past few days have seen much lack of action on the part of the Lebanese forces, as it feared that its internal divisions (Sunni vs Shia) could resurface and soldiers take sides.

As usual today in Beirut, the sun is shining and people here in the Christian area are going about their daily business. Now we are waiting to see what political deal can come out of this power game. To be continued....

Unrest in Lebanon: Day 3 in the afternoon

This afternoon continued unrest in the city, fighting around the UN building near the Prime Minister's office.

A colleague had to go urgently back to the office to try and restore some electricity lines and the network server so that people could have access to their work emails from home. He took these photos on his way.

These are the Hezbollah tents placed near the Prime Minister's Office

This photo was taken from on top of the building near a UN office in Hamra in West Beirut (now completely controlled by Hezbollah)













Here we can see local journalists with flak jackets on the main Hamra street in West Beirut.

Unrest in Lebanon: Day 3

Beirut has not seen such intense fighting since the civil war which ended in 1989 with the Taif Agreement.












Just three weeks into my job at UNRWA, a general strike was called by the largest Trade Union in Lebanon to protest against minimum wages and against the current government's inability to improve the economic and political situation in Lebanon. That was three days ago. Opposition supporters used the strike as a general protest against two major government decisions which had been announced regarding the scrapping of Hezbollah's telecommunications network including its surveillance cameras set up at the Beirut International Airport.

On the first day of instability, the Designated Official of the UN (responsible for the security of all UN staff) recommended that people stay at home. UNRWA however, which runs hospitals and schools in camps, cannot shut down completely their operations, so I was asked to go to work. UNRWA's office is located on the road to the airport in a Shia area in the South of Beirut. Leaving the house at 7am, I tried to get past the numerous checkpoints which had been set up by opposition supporters, with burning tyres and heeps of rubble, but just could not get through and therefore had to return home. From there we watched the local Lebanese news.












The second day, I arranged to follow a convoy that UNRWA had organised to pick up some staff in Beirut, to get to the office. The driver knew some internal roads avoiding check-points which I am not familiar with yet. After a few hours at the office, UNRWA announced that we had to go home because Nasrallah was planned to give a press conference in the afternoon. That usually sparks unrest, so best be inside.

We came home to watch him speak. A Lebanese colleague of mine was with me and translated his speech.












After Nasrallah's speech, where he claimed that government's decisions (which I have mentioned above) was a form of waging war on him and his followers, the streets of Beirut burst into violent clashes between Sunni militia's (Saad Hariri's Mustaqbal faction) and Shia Hezbollah and Amal supporters. Hariri spoke publically followed by General Aoun, trying to calm things down, without much success. In the evening and well through the night, we heard heavy shooting and a number of rocket propelled grenades which resonate very loudly, nearly like thunder. We live in a Christian area which is not directly affected by the fighting, however we are surrounded by mixted Sunni/Shia neighbourhoods.

Day 3 of civil unrest, we woke up to more gun fire and RPGs. Our UN security radios tuned on with messages informing all UN staff that the situation remains very tense, with heavy clashes in the streets of West Beirut, staff are advised to remain at home and away from windows.

The airport remains closed today with Hezbollah putting up tents there and blocking the highway to and from it. The road to the eastern border to Syria, remains inaccessible due to fighting between Sunni and Shia in the mid-Bekaa Valley area.

Just a few hours ago, reports confirmed that Hezbollah has taken over West Beirut and politicians such as Walid Jumblatt (leader of the Druze) have been evacuated from their residences by the Lebanese army. Hariri's residence is apparently surrounded by opposition militias, however it is not clear if he is inside.

CNN is also reporting on the situation here, a recent article summarises it well: Read Article

I will update this blog as often as I can with developments here....

P.S. Yesterday I stocked up food supplies and took some cash out of the bank just in case they close down!