Three Years On...

And still nothing has been solved politically. In fact, things are worse. Assassinations, bombs, wars with Israel, battles in Palestinian Camps... you name it, Lebanon has had it. Today saw the usual suspects trotting out the usual rabble rousing speeches - but this time another event was going on a couple of miles down the road... the funeral of Imad Mughniyeh - one of Hezbollah's commanders. A thoroughly nasty piece of work (hijacker, kidnapper, torturer and all round terrorist), he was killed on Tuesday night in Damascus. Many people suspect the Israelis, but I would also place money on the Syrians. See if there is a thaw in relations between the US and Damascus in the coming weeks/months...

Anyway, the Hariri commemoration went ahead today in the pouring rain. Some figures say that over a million people attended, with a further 500,000 people in the surrounding streets. I would be most surprised if a third of the population of Lebanon did attend - maybe some got lost en route to Mughniyeh's funeral?!

Interestingly, given Nasrallah's speech at Mughniyeh's funeral about it now being open war with Israel, Hezbollah had increasingly distanced themselves from his tactics and operations. So I'm wondering what this latest rabble-rousing speech is aimed at doing. Especially as Nasrallah's last appearance on TV - last week with Michel Aoun his Christian political ally - was much more measured. Time will no doubt tell. On the plus side, there has been no fighting as of 7.30pm this evening, giving more credence to my recently patented theory that "people don't riot in the rain"!

Anyway, enough boring political stuff! Siobhan is here this week and we have been down to Beaufort Castle and Sidon as well as up to Tripoli (it rained that day and we got lost). We have also been to a spa and just chilled out in Beirut! Very nice!