Under Siege III

Last night was surprisingly quiet in Beirut. We were expecting a lot of noise and bombardment as Hizbullah managed to bomb an Israeli warship. Around 7pm there were a couple of very loud explosions in the south of Beirut where Israeli jets bombed the Hizbullah HQ. The head of Hizbullah, Nasrallah, survived the attack and upped the stakes by saying that it is now all-out war. Israel continues to blame the government and people of Lebanon for this and is in no mood to stop its assault. From listening to radio 4 online (God bless the internet!) the comments that are coming through from the US are not particularly helpful - in fact Bush has been his usual impotent useless self, showing his unique talent for making a bad situation worse. Comments from an Israeli general, as you might expect, are so insensitive as to make your blood boil.

What's interesting, and probably has no small part in shaping some people's take on things, are the comments from the media - even the BBC. For example: '4 Israeli solders missing' runs one headline after the attack on the warship. Another reads '2 Israelis killed in northern border town'. Now, I am not denying that these are tragedies for the families. But when you then hear that over 60 Lebanese civilians have been killed in the strikes since they began, you get a bit of perspective. You don't hear about these deaths as much - if you do, they don't seem to be as humanised. You don't hear about the family of 10, about the children that have died. Also, I was under the impression that if you join the army, you do so with the knowledge that you may be placed in dangerous situations, and that you may get injured or die. So why the shock-horror when Israeli soldiers attack a country (in a completely disproportionate response) and then get injured/missing/killed?

Latest news is that we've been advised to be ready to leave at short notice. Not sure when, or where - of course an evacuation is really a last resort. No one seems to be intervening internationally to stop the Israelis. I'm off to answer phones again this afternoon.

In other news we have an expectant mother (not me!) lodging with us! A bird is nesting on our windowsill - Dom has bizarrely Christened her Sidney - I think I will feminise it to Sydney. Anyway, she is sitting on her eggs and I shall keep you updated of her progress!