Explosion on Monot Street
Yesterday, Friday the 22nd of July 2005, a powerful explosion targeted a busy restaurants and bar street in Beirut. Monot Street, the place in question especially crowded on Friday and Saturday nights, was stunned at 10 pm Beirut Time by the intensity of the explosion. National television reports that one person was killed and at least four people wounded (CNN reported 0 dead people, what a lame!!). Located meters away from the downtown district, the street is an important late-night life location. Rumors say that the bomb was planted underneath a car in a garage; although the car was almost value-less, it is told that the owner had a heart attack (he survived) when he saw a piece of junk instead.
International media insists that the explosion’s was targeting the Christian population since the street is located in Achrafieh, a region largely inhabited by the Christian community. I’ve been going to Monot Street for ages now (I wasn’t there yesterday) and I’ll still be going there. It’s a place where everyone meets up regardless of religion, race or T-Shirt color (I would be amazed to see that).
This explosion doesn’t come as a surprise for the Lebanese people. It completes a series of other explosion blasting for the last months mainly in Beirut and its suburbs. It all started with the assassination of PM Rafic Hariri on the 14th of February and ever since the country has been living important political and social changes (Retreat of the Syrian army of Lebanon, Democratic Elections taking place, Return of General Michel Aoun from exile, the planned release on July the 26th of Dr. Samir Geagea after 11 years of imprisonment…). You could write a big dusty book about all those recent changes in Lebanon! The latest explosion has hit Elias El Murr, the ex-minister of interior and current minister of defense. He miraculously survived and is currently in a state of healing from his numerous injuries. His family, politically very influent in Lebanon, holds his current location a secret (for security reasons obviously…).
I’ve lived several of the explosions live on the terrain. I was located 300 meters away from the place where PM Rafic Hariri was assassinated. In another explosion which killed an anti-Syrian journalist called Samir Kassir, I was able to get on location at the same moment as the press and took that day a couple of photos (I want a Pulitzer!) of the toasted car, I’ll tell you everything about it some other day.