Headlines, Middle East & North Africa

LEBANON: All Roads Do Not Lead to Beirut

Mona Alami

BEIRUT, May 19 2008 (IPS) - In the wake of the deadly conflict that has left Lebanon with at least 65 dead and 200 injured, the roads in and out of the Land of the Cedars have proved a difficult journey for most. As the rubble was being cleared by large trucks – after an Arab delegation was able to negotiate a breakthrough among feuding politicians – some Lebanese are asking how long the roads will remain clear.

Usually bustling with traffic, Lebanon’s roads connecting the country to the outside world came to a full stop May 7. A protest against the high cost of living ignited a bloodbath on the streets of Beirut, which spread to the mountains, the eastern Bekaa valley and the northern city of Tripoli.

Pro-Syrian and Iranian opposition gunmen – comprised of the Shia Hezbollah and Amal movements as well as the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), a Lebanese organisation affiliated ideologically to the Damascus regime – fought governing majority groups, the Sunni Future Movement and the Druze Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).

The conflict erupted after the government said it would investigate the expanding independent Hezbollah telephone network and reassign airport security chief Wafiq Shoucair over his alleged links to Hezbollah.

Air traffic came to a complete halt after opposition members closed the roads leading to the Rafik Hariri International Airport, Lebanon’s only gateway for air passage. Jihad al-Bina, Hezbollah’s reconstruction arm, poured piles of sand and rubble on the highway and set old tires ablaze, blackening the tarmac.

In retaliation, youth from the Future Movement and residents of the Majdel Anjar village, located near the Lebanese Masnaa crossing between Lebanon and Syria some 70km from Beirut, blocked the road to Damascus with earth mounds. The highway seemed eerily empty, with only a few individuals risking crossing the roadblocks on foot to pass through Lebanese customs into neighbouring Syria.

This correspondent’s journey to Beirut originated in Jordan with a two-hour drive to Damascus, located some 100 kilometres from Beirut. The Damascus-Beirut drive was in a cab from the wide avenue dividing the Mazzeh area, home to the infamous Syrian intelligence service headquarters, which was swarming with cars moving out of city into the sprawling suburbs.

As the Syrian capital slowly faded away in the afternoon sun, its large esplanades, grey buildings and green squares dissolving in the background, the Lebanese mountain range gradually emerged, and highway activity suddenly slowed down. Only a few cars traversed the no-man’s land separating the Syrian Jdeideh customs from the Lebanese Masnaa passage.

At the Syrian-Lebanese border, by the rundown Lebanese customs building in Masnaa, Ayman, a tall and muscular customs officer dressed as a civilian, recalled the trouble over recent days. “The village was the scene of violent fights. Village residents, aligned with the governing majority and belonging to Salafist movements (a radical faction of Sunni Islam) battled unknown factions posted on the Syrian side of the border. The customs building was riddled with bullets as it was caught in the line of fire.”

After a week of gun battles, Lebanon’s roads opened unexpectedly after the deadlock between warring Lebanese politicians witnessed a new phase in its evolution. An Arab delegation, headed by Qatar, flew into Beirut and mediated a resumption of national dialogue, which includes the participation of all major Lebanese political factions. The roads were cleared as if by sheer magic, with some forgiving god taking pity on Lebanese travellers’ plight.

As the first airplanes landed on Beirut’s runways, a few dishevelled passengers slowly appeared out of the airport terminal. “We travelled two weeks ago to Qatar on business,” said one. “Fortunately, we were able to remain at a friend’s house during our forced lengthy stay. We were extremely anxious, and calling the airport every day to inquire about our flight to Beirut.”

“It seems the Lebanese are destined to regularly face an ordeal when leaving Lebanon during the summer,” she said, referring to the deadly conflicts that shook the country over the last two years. In 2006 Israel launched a major military campaign against Hezbollah, leading to the death of some 1,200 Lebanese over 33 days of conflict. Last year prolonged fighting broke out in the northern Palestinian refugee camp Nahr el-Bared between terrorist group Fateh el-Islam and the Lebanese army.

“I was considering coming back to Beirut by boat through Cyprus,” said Brahim, a young man who was on vacation in Dubai. “It seems that in Lebanon a simple travel plan is subject to much uncertainty. I guess that is part of our culture.”

As the sun rises high over Lebanon, its beautiful Bekaa Valley and its rugged coast, a fragile calm seems to prevail on the Masnaa and airport passageways, giving hope that life will once again return to normal.