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Inside Lebanon

May 13, 2008 4:11 PM

Lara Setrakian, part of our recent expansion of reporters stationed around the globe, blogs:

Getting into Lebanon wasn’t easy. Hezbollah forces effectively shut down the Beirut airport, so I flew to Damascus, drove to the Syrian border, walked my suitcases across a barricade, and then got a driver from the Lebanese border to Beirut. (At left, dirt and rocks were used to block Lebanon's streets as a form of protest, shutting down certain routes and the Beirut airport.) When I got to Beirut there were still clashes in the western part of town, where my colleagues and I were staying. Some of the worst clashes were in Hamra, a neighborhood I know well. My mother grew up in Hamra as part of a small Armenian Christian community in this mostly Muslim area. She married my dad at the start of the Lebanese Civil War, when they moved to the U.S. to start a family. One uncle stayed behind in Beirut to cover the war. He worked at UPI with a then little-known Thomas Friedman and occasionally with ABC’s Peter Jennings.

After studying and subsequently reporting on Middle East, it was my turn. I was dispatched to cover this conflict, knowing something about the politics at the center. It all started last week when the Lebanese government challenged Hezbollah, a Shiite political and military wing considered a terrorist group in the United States. The government sees the well-armed Hezbollah as a state-within a state, and called for Hezbollah to dismantle a private telecom network that was used for military communications during Hezbollah’s 2006 war with Israel.

Hezbollah refused, clashing with government forces and overpowering them in less than 48 hours. It was urban warfare that tore at the peaceful, diverse society the Lebanese were trying to build after the Civil War.

In the end the government backpedaled -- withdrawing its challenge to Hezbollah in order to keep the peace. Government leader Walid Jumblatt, usually a firebrand critic of Hezbollah, sounded defeated in his speeches and comments that followed the fighting. (At left, young Lebanese watch a concession speech by Jumblatt.) Now Beirut is calm, but tense. Many are returning to work and some are going out to socialize -- Beirut some of the best bars, cafes, and restaurant in the Middle East. As a coping device, Lebanese people are famous for finding a way to party in the midst of crisis.

Some are calling for the government to resign, which would shift the balance of power toward Hezbollah’s coalition. While the Lebanese wait they worry, afraid of more fighting before any lasting peace.

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