World Blog : Beirut, Lebanon

Beirut attack: The start of Islamic terrorism

Petra Cahill — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:07:00 GMT

By Jim Maceda, NBC News Correspondent

Twenty-five years on and it still appears in my nightmares and daydreams: the visual equivalent of a lone, empty shoe or sandal, on top of a pile of rubble, all that remains of the child who once wore it.

Only in my mind’s eye it’s not a shoe – it’s a stepladder. The aluminum kind you’d use to change a bulb or paint the ceiling. It was lingering somewhere inside or against the 1/8 Marines’ barracks in Beirut when a suicide bomber drove his five-ton yellow Mercedes truck, laden with six tons of TNT, right through an unfortified perimeter fence and straight into the lobby of the barracks, setting off the largest non-nuclear explosion since World War II.

AP file

British soldiers give a hand in rescue operations at the site of the bomb-wrecked U.S. Marine command center in Beirut on Oct. 23, 1983.

I came across the ladder hours later, and hundreds of yards from the scene. It had impaled a tree trunk like a huge dart, and was hanging, parallel to the ground, swaying in the breeze. A strange image – but one that is seared in my mind when I think about that awful day 25 years ago that marked the first of what would become many radical Islamic terror attacks against Western interests.
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In Beirut, gunfire and thunder make for an eerie mixture

Petra Cahill — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:36:00 GMT

By Irina Prentice

BEIRUT – By Friday afternoon, the street battles which have flared across Beirut over the last three days seemed to have abated somewhat, though sporadic gunfire could still be heard in different areas of the city.

During these tense 72 hours, mostly Shiite Hezbollah and Amal gunmen managed to seize nearly all of the Lebanese capital's Sunni Muslim sector from foes loyal to the U.S.-backed government. At least 11 people have been killed and more than 20 wounded in the armed conflict between the Iranian and Syrian backed Hezbollah fighters and gunmen loyal to the government.

SLIDESHOW: Fighting roils Beirut

Beirut, perched between the sparkling Mediterranean and a green mountain range, has been badly shaken by the violence – the worst sectarian clashes the country has seen since the 15-year civil war from 1975-1990. The skirmishes echo off the mountains, amplifying the sound of explosions as they occur.

Throughout Thursday night, heavy fighting took place, with machine gun fire, rocket-propelled grenades and pistol shots making sleep almost impossible for most residents. Compounding the magnitude of the sound was a thunderstorm, which unexpectedly erupted in the same way the armed conflict had a few hours earlier.

"The thunderstorm… eerie timing" said Hanna Defuria, visiting her sister who just moved to Beirut two weeks ago. "It was hard to tell what was thunder and what were gunshots, but when the storm passed there were no gunshots."

Added Laura Defuria, Hanna’s sister: "Amazingly, I don’t feel unsafe. Maybe it is because I am new to the situation, but I feel like it is far away although it is very close."

The sisters are indeed close to the action – they are staying in an apartment on the same street where Saad Hariri, one of Lebanon’s top Sunni lawmakers, lives. Head of the Future Party and deputy in the parliament, Hariri’s residence suffered damage from a rocket-propelled grenade, and the television station and newspaper affiliated with his political party were attacked and ransacked.

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Hezbollah game celebrates war vs. Israel

Petra Cahill — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:07:00 GMT

By Richard Engel, Middle East bureau chief

It was a launch party that would have made Microsoft proud, if Microsoft were an anti-Israeli militant group.

Hezbollah held on Thursday what was basically a giant garden party to announce the release of its latest video game, "Special Force II," in which players destroy Israeli tanks, shoot down helicopters and destroy warships; killing Israeli soldiers earns bonus points.

VIDEO: Hezbollah launches video game

Under a giant marquee in Beirut’s dusty southern suburbs, Hezbollah displayed captured Israeli helmets, rifles and ammunition in glass trophy cases. The turret of an Israeli tank and jeep Hezbollah captured during its 34-day war with Israel last summer were set on mounds like garden statues, artistically lit by red and green spotlights. Families took pictures of the Israeli weapons as their children paid $10 for a copy of Special Force II, designed by Hezbollah’s "Internet Division."

Victory party
All week, Hezbollah has been holding victory celebrations to coincide with the end of the conflict in August 2006, which Hezbollah considers a major victory. It’s a war Hezbollah says is not over.

In a speech earlier this week, Hezbollah leader Sayid Hassan Nasrallah declared there is "no ceasefire" with Israel, but only a "halt of offensive operations." Nasrallah also claimed his forces are fully rearmed with rockets that can reach "anywhere" in Israel, but added that he does not want another war.

Until there is a new war – many Lebanese fear it could happen at anytime – young people here can now relive the fighting on their computers.

Hezbollah’s celebrations and new video game may also have a domestic political goal. Many Lebanese now question if the nation gained anything from what Nasrallah calls his "Divine Victory" over Israel.

During the war, as Israel targeted – Lebanese say indiscriminately – the country’s infrastructure, most people here were united behind Hezbollah. But today, Lebanon remains in tatters, and on-going Hezbollah-led protests against the U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora have closed most of the businesses in downtown Beirut and scared away tourists. Lebanon has not moved forward since the war. Lebanon has turned on itself. But that’s not part of the video game.

Lebanon’s uncertain future

Petra Cahill — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:14:00 GMT

By Paul Nassar, NBC News Producer

It is a journey that I have made countless times. Arriving in the city I was born in and left -- sometimes even fled -- more times than I care to remember in the past 35 years, has become something of a routine for me. There is no doubt that things have changed here in those years.

The bitter memory of the civil war receded and the battle-scarred buildings and roads have given way to brand new highways and glimmering high-rises. The city has regained the cosmopolitan essence that it had all but lost.

Beirut today reflects the makeup of the whole country, with its diverse population. Muslim and Christian neighborhoods melt into each other, separated in most cases by nothing more than a narrow street. In the historic downtown, minarets and church steeples vie for attention, as if in competition with each other. It is the only city I know where conversations are drowned out by both the muezzin's call for prayer and the chiming of church bells.

My arrival here on Friday should have been no different from the other trips I've made to Beirut. This time, however, things are far from normal. I landed here less than 24 hours after one of the most violent riots between the opposing sectarian groups claimed the lives of at least three people.

As I drove past the Beirut Arab University, I could see some of the remnants of Thursday's clashes: an overturned minibus here, a half burned tire there. Violence is no stranger to Lebanon, but most people had hoped that sectarian strife was something firmly rooted in the (albeit recent) past.

Divisions run deep
Civil war raged here from 1975 until 1990 and resolved none of the basic fundamental problems that blight Lebanon. Deeply divided along sectarian groupings, the main fault lines that run through the Lebanese political landscape were papered-over. Exhaustion had set in and for a while that was enough to sustain a fragile peace here.

This summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah, the paramilitary political force here that represents most, but not all, of Lebanon's Shiite community, put the spotlight back on the cracks that run deep in this country of 17 different religious communities.

A seemingly unbridgeable schism developed between the moderate Sunni Muslim, Christian and Druze factions on one side and the mostly Shiite groups on the other. The alliance of the former groups backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia blamed Hezbollah for igniting the devastating war, while the latter claimed that the others had almost colluded with Israel during the month long battle.

Hezbollah emerged bruised but survived the onslaught to resurface stronger than before. It claimed a "divine victory" over its nemesis then turned its attention inward, demanding an ever-increasing share of power. The continued financial, military and ideological support that the group gets from an increasingly emboldened Iran and its junior partner, Syria, ensures that these countries continue to have a strong say as to what happens in Lebanon.

What kind of Lebanon do people really want?
In reaction to this summer's events, the opposing political factions hardened their positions. Though the divisions breakdown along sectarian lines, the real issues at hand are what kind of Lebanon do these communities want? A pro-western businessman's haven or an Islamic government emulating Iran?

No sooner had Israel's bombing stopped than another war erupted on the country's airwaves and newspaper columns. Broadcasters and print journalists here mirror the position of their respective stations and papers most of which are owned by the political factions. Lebanon enjoys a level of freedom in the press unknown anywhere else in the Arab world, but the sniping and insults meted out daily on the main news broadcasts helped each side dig in a little deeper until an internal clash became inevitable.

There is a look of shock etched in people's faces here. Most remember well the misery of war and nobody it seems wants to experience a rerun of it. In this light it’s understandable that almost every conversation starts with questions like "So what do you think will happen? Surely not another war?" It is as if people are desperate for an answer, any answer that will assuage their fears.

What seems most frustrating of all is that the Lebanese feel completely helpless in trying to resolve the situation. They know that they are caught in a political game, the results of which are not decided in Beirut's streets or ballot boxes, but rather in the corridors of power in Washington, Riyadh, Tehran and Damascus. It is in these cities, and not here, that the outcome of what happens to Lebanon will be determined.

So for now, the Lebanese are mere pawns in a much greater game over which they have little control. It is no wonder, therefore, that people around me are holding their breath and praying that the winds of war will not return to ravage this small and fragile country.

Beirut tension – neighbor to neighbor

Petra Cahill — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 19:18:00 GMT

By Moustafa Kassem, NBC News Beirut Bureau Coordinator

There is tension on every street in west Beirut, not only at the Arab University when the incident between the government and opposition supporters happened Thursday.

In each area and on each block there are Hariri’s people here (Saad Hariri is the leader of the parliamentary majority and the leading Sunni opponent of Hezbollah), and Hezbollah people there. So there is tension in every street.

The army has now taken over. They pushed back the young men and boys and sent them home. So there is an appeal from all of the leaders in Lebanon – including Hariri, Nabih Berri, the House Speaker, and Hezbollah to calm the streets. But the tension is still there.

After 2:30 p.m. – when we heard the news about the clash at the Arab University – everybody just left work and went back home. So there was a huge traffic jam from east to west. It took me about two-and-a-half hours instead of about four minutes to pick up my kids from school.

So, everything is pretty crazy in the city. Now all of the streets are empty. Most of the streets are now full of the army on patrol.

Scary part – neighbor vs. neighbor
In the summer there was the Israeli bombing, But this fighting from street to street, from neighbor to neighbor – this is the scary part.

If you want to go to your office, you have to cross like five checkpoints. You cross Hariri’s people, you cross the Shiites.

There is absolutely tension in Beirut. But, for now it’s calmed down a little bit. The army has taken over and all the leaders have asked their people to pull out from the street. So we have to wait a few hours to see what their action will be after their appeal.