Under Siege II

We certainly didn't sleep through the bombings last night. We were woken at about 3.45am by some shelling, which then continued for around 2 hours on and off with a few hits from the warships out at sea. There was some anti-aircraft fire, we could see the tracer bullets in the air. We switched off the air con as bizarrely, I felt safer actually hearing where the planes were - our air con is so loud that we were only hearing bangs, and that is not conducive to a calm state of mind. There were a few drones (unmanned planes) up above too. As the night drew to a close you could hear the mosques in the south starting up, and, as dawn broke, we could see smoke rising from where the fuel tanks of the airport had been hit. It's hard from the flat to see exactly what sort of damage is being done, as the 7th floor, in Beirut terms, is not really that high, and there are always plenty of other buildings in the way.

Anyway, the working day then started off normally enough - the streets, although not as busy as usual were fairly busy with traffic. We both went into work, although my office took a while to get in, and once people were in, it was very obvious that their minds were elsewhere. It's difficult to comprehend, having thankfully never had to endure this type of agression before, just how the Lebanese feel - they are angry, paniced, scared and just want to be with their families at the moment - those who are old enough to remember what Beirut and Lebanon was like during the war have even more painful memories to contend with, I am sure.

So, eventually we were sent home. I have been manning phones, taking details of British Nationals and reiterating the Foreign Office advice: to stay put, keep indoors, watch the TV for updates etc. There are many more British nationals here than we thought - we didn't assume for one moment that people would register with us and we factor that in our calculations, but it's a testament to how well Lebanon was doing attracting tourists that so many people are on holiday here. Not that I would particularly like my holiday snaps to have Israeli warships in the background, but I am sure no one was expecting that either!

And therein lies our problem. The situation has escalated so quickly that no one has had a chance to recommend that people leave the country. Therefore there are around 15,000 people here who normally would have had a few days warning at least to leave. Now, of course, they can't.

A friend of mine headed into the southern suburbs today. She reports that people there are taking it in their stride, they are remaining calm, and that they are bracing themselves for more attacks. They have no where to go - they are from the south originally, and can't go back, and do not have the means to stay elsewhere. They, in short, are standing together and are prepared to go the distance. She said that it didn't feel agressive, but that people remained friendly towards her and just stated this as fact.

In the last half hour there have been three more explosions that we have heard. Again all in the south, but the noise is starting to carry more and more. We'll be manning phones again tomorrow - there are rumours of foreign nationals from other countries being evacuated, but most turn out to be rumours. Apparently the Swiss have taken some of their nationals out - but have refused to take partners of other nationalities - not the British position I hasten to add!

Anyway, it's still not doom and gloom here. I shall close with one amusing (well I thought) anecdote:
F: (Answering phone) Can I help?
Caller: I would like to leave the country
F: We recommend you don't travel - a lot of roads to Damascus are down and you know that the airport is closed. (clearly I am paraphrasing here)
Caller: That is OK, I plan to leave through the southern border
F: ??!!!?? You can't go through the Israeli boder!!
Caller: Why not?
F: !!!!!