May 10, 2008
Driving To Lebanon
I will be taking the long road to Beirut in a few hours. The airport is still closed, so our CNN team is driving in.
There is a lull in the fighting in the Lebanese capital and Hezbollah has withdrawn its armed men from the streets. But will it stay calm for long? We will report on where the country goes from here, whether the Siniora government can survive and what life is like for ordinary residents of Beirut. We'll also look at the damage - physical and financial - to country mired in this protacted and divisive tug-of-war. 4 Comments
Add a commentMay 9, 2008
Lebanon: Hezbollah Controls West Beirut
 This AP photo shows a Shiite gunman from the Amal group, allied with Hezbollah, guards an intersection in West Beirut. Half of the city is now under the military control of the opposition. The U-S backed government of Fouad Siniora is now hanging by a thread. This morning, Hezbollah militiamen took over the headquarters of Future TV, a pro-government network in Lebanon. The road to the airport is still closed and checkpoints are peppered throughout Beirut. What will pro-government supporters do now? As journalist Habib Battah wrote this morning : "militia logic has returned" to the streets of the capital city. May 8, 2008
Nasrallah Speaks, Lebanon Holds Its Breath
 I just got off the phone with a journalist in Beirut who told me you could hear a pin drop throughout Beirut as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah began a live speech on television. I am listening to the speech live and Nasrallah just said : "Whoever shoots at us, we will shoot them back." He also called a crackdown on his supporters from the pro-western Lebanese government a "declaration of war." This follows two days of demonstrations in which pro- and anti-government protesters clashed and the spectre of Lebanon's ruinous civil war reappeared in some Beirut neighborhoods. This is a new phase in Lebanon. Is the violence stoppable now? I want to open the blog today to a discussion on the situation in Lebanon. Email us your thoughts at mideast@cnn.com or add a comment below. Thanks, Hala May 7, 2008
Lebanon - A Blogger's Report
 A cameraman reacts after being injured during protests in Lebanon today. (Photo AP/Hussein Malla) A fellow journalist I've interviewed several times in Lebanon, Habib Battah, posts an interesting entry on the tense situation on the streets of Beirut today. He writes: "The chaos came as a surprise because up until last night organizers had pitched the event as a simple labor strike to pressure the government into raising the minimum wage. But by early Wednesday, a completely different plan seemed to be in place. In a clear show of force, the Hezbollah-led opposition had actually hired dump trucks and bulldozers to enforce what was thought to be a voluntary act of staying home from work. The move caught most Lebanese off guard, eroding the notion that this was a spontaneous 'public' outcry against the government's labor policies." Pro- and anti-government demonstrators have been clashing today and the army has been forced to keep rival protestors apart. Cars and tires went up in flames and in mixed Shiite-Sunni neighborhoods, the ominous crackle of gunfire could be heard throughout the Lebanese capital. “This is a turning point. There can be no more cohabitation between the Government and the opposition. All trust is gone,” a Lebanese expert on Hezbollah, Amal Saad Ghorayeb told the Times of London. Tomorrow will be a real test for Lebanon: will protestors stay home? Lebanon: Political Compromise Up In Flames?
 A protestor holding a gasoline bottle near a burning car. Beirut, May 7th, 2008. (Photo Hussein Malla/AP)Lebanon's opposition parties, including Syrian/Iraninan-backed Hezbollah, called a general strike across the country. Protesters blocked roads with burning tires and paralyzed Beirut's international airport. While attending the Arab Broadcast Forum in Abu Dhabu over the last few days, I chatted with leading Lebanese anchor Shada Omar. She told me the two sides seem as far apart as ever and that a political compromise between the western-backed government of Fouad Siniora and the Hezbollah-led opposition grows more and more improbable by the day. Politicians in Lebanon have tried - and failed - to agree on a consensus President almost twenty times since last November. Many wonder if all-out violence will break out if rival parties cannot find a way to govern together. The conditions are certainly there. |
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