Beirut: City overview

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To most people Beirut is as synonymous with urban conflict as Paris is with romance.

But times have changed. Fifteen years since the end of the devastating Lebanese civil war that left it a battle-scarred wasteland, Beirut has regained some of the elegance and élan that made it a Mediterranean playground in the 1960s.

Waterfront apartments that were once bullet-pockmarked sniper nests now fetch $3 million. Hotels formerly frequented by hardened war correspondents once again cater for the international jet set.

Most noticeably, Beirut's legendary nightlife is back, prompting the Sunday Times newspaper -- which placed the city on its Hot List for 2005 -- to report that "the party capital of the Middle East is swinging again late into the night."

It's perhaps because of the years of civil war -- and the fragile peace ever since -- that Beirutis who can afford it have learnt to appreciate the good times.

Beyond the center, much of the city awaits redevelopment. Many citizens struggle to survive amid chronic unemployment.

And while sophisticated Beirutis may feel shielded by westernized lifestyles, their city remains politically and geographically tied to the volatile climate of the Middle East -- as the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 demonstrated. Yet the fact such spasms of violence are so rare that hundreds of thousands subsequently felt moved to protest in the so-called "Cedar Revolution" is perhaps a sign of how far Beirut has come.

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