At around 2.30 the Israelis start pounding the southern suburbs of Beirut again. One of those bunker buster bombs shakes the windows of our accommodation. We are miles away. We get a lift into the south of the city. Hizbollah stop our car as we approach the area around an hour after the strike. They have put a large cordon around the areas that are being hit or expected to be. They give us directions to a vantage point high above the city where we can view the proceedings from a safe distance.
.
The Christian area where we are sent has become a circus for the corporate media. It offers a panoramic view of the city. Smoke billows up from several fires started by the earlier bombing. The districts that have been attacked smoulder below us. They have been empty since the first days of the war and all but destroyed. It seems that the Israelis are making the most of the last few hours of bombing before their licence is taken away by the ceasefire. Two areas have been hit and the fires will burn for hours.
Then a massive explosion rocks the landscape to the south of us. An enormous mushroom of smoke appears visible from many miles away; the refugee camp of Naameh has been hit. One of the Arab journalists present explains that Naameh is home to around 12,000 Palistinian refugees who have lived there for many years. There is a history of tension between the mainly Sunni Palistinians and their mainly Shiite hosts so the idea that this was a strike against Hizbollah is absurd. There are however a number of Palistinian militants in the camp who are wanted by Israel. This, it seems, was a simple case of score settling by Israelis who seem to want to use every last bomb before the UN resolution goes through.
Words and pictures copyright the author but free to progressive media, NGOs etc.
Contact by email for details.
Then a massive explosion rocks the landscape to the south of us. An enormous mushroom of smoke appears visible from many miles away; the refugee camp of Naameh has been hit. One of the Arab journalists present explains that Naameh is home to around 12,000 Palistinian refugees who have lived there for many years. There is a history of tension between the mainly Sunni Palistinians and their mainly Shiite hosts so the idea that this was a strike against Hizbollah is absurd. There are however a number of Palistinian militants in the camp who are wanted by Israel. This, it seems, was a simple case of score settling by Israelis who seem to want to use every last bomb before the UN resolution goes through.
Words and pictures copyright the author but free to progressive media, NGOs etc.
Contact by email for details.
e-mail:
