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....