Under Siege VIII: The Endless Steps

The closest bomb to hit came today. I was safely in the Beirut Forum, evacuating citizens - Dom was at work, but it hit a lorry fairly near our house. There were also a few shots that were aimed near the port, just after the boats had left. They sounded close.

The death toll in Lebanon now stands at 300 - mainly civillians. The death toll in Israel is 29 - with 14 soldiers. I have never condoned what Hizbullah did, and am totally opposed to the civillian deaths in Haifa and other towns, but in answer to an earlier anonymous post, I feel very strongly that the response by Israel over the last week, to the initial caputuring of their soldiers, has been completely and utterly disproportionate. The attacks by Israel have been calculated not only to destroy Hizbullah, but also to inflict as much damage on a country's infrastructure as possible. On a daily basis, roads, airports and road bridges have been bombed. There have also been attacks on the Lebanese army's engineering depot (so the army can't even build bridges to get to the south) and a milk factory in the Bekaa so there are no commercially available supplies of milk now (a German investment incidentally, the attacks on the port hit British commercial interests). It is using a sledgehammer to kill a fly. The Lebanese people, as the Israelis know, are more complex than they are portrayed at present. The coalition of power that is trying to get Lebanon back on its feet cannot simply be run on religious lines. It is not as simple as kicking Hizbollah out of the government and then thinking all this will go away. It won't. Where is the dialogue? Where are the offers to negotiate? When will the international community condemn what is happening, or offer to broker a peace deal between both parties? Where else in the world is another country allowed to inflict such damage on another country in this manner?

In other news, the evacuation, although stressful, resulted in around 1000 people heading off on the Navy boats. I said goodbye to my boss, so heavens knows what this means for the normal job, and spent most of the day running around in the heat. I now smell and am probably a target for a heat seeking missile. My friend Fida was supposed to head off today and in fact was filmed having a cheeky snog with her boyfriend Jack on Aussie TV. However, their evacuation was not as smooth as it could have been, and she is still in Beirut. My other British Council friends head off tomorrow and that is making it all seem a lot more real. We've relied on each other a lot over the past few days and as Sydney is deaf, she will not prove to be the most effective listener.

Still, more evacuations will keep me busy tomorrow - I am enjoying it although it can be stressful. You really feel that you are helping and it's nice to chat to a whole load of people about what brings them here and if they want to return - most do, of course.

Quick Sydney update - she is fine and is getting more and more used to us. If the egg hatches, we will have to think of a name for the chick - suggestions gratefully received.