The Fox Blog

Another explosion occurred on the 25th of September 2005 in the Jounieh area, north of Beirut. The attempt was on May Chidiac, a well known anchorwoman who has worked at the local LBC television for the last 20 years where she presented the 8:00 p.m. news and hosted political shows. The bomb was detonated in her car, a ranger rover which is now completely wrecked.

International media discuss that she was “Anti-Syrian” or a “sympathizer of the Lebanese Forces”, whose leader, Dr. Samir Geagea has been released a couple of month. This might be the case but first of all, she was a member of the media doing her job and there was no room for her political affiliation in what she did.
By targeting May Chidiac, free press and free speech is targeted, an issue that cannot be accepted in Lebanon, the sole country in the Middle East where the government doesn’t “truly” control the press.

May Chidiac is currently treated at Hotel Dieu de France Hospital in Beirut; doctors reported that she is in a “stable” condition. Although she’ll make it out of this nightmare, she paid an excessive price: she might lose her leg. A physical disability that doesn’t even come close to the wound the accident caused in the mind of the Lebanese people and certainly on her, a wound that might take time to heal.

This is the second time in a couple of month that free press is targeted in Lebanon, the latest attack of this kind of on Samir Kassir, a writer and journalist for An Nahar newspaper, another leading institution of the Lebanese media.

“Don’t’ Kill the Messenger”

More then three month have passed since the death of Samir Kassir. “Kassir was an outspoken journalist and writer who was known for always putting his finger on the problem; he was also a political science professor, historian, an intellectual”. Mainly, he was / still is a symbol of free speech and free journalism in Lebanon. He passed away on June 2nd 2005 following terrorist acts which lead to the explosion of his car when he was turning it on.

European academics and journalists have set up a web site dedicated to Kassir and petitioning for the redefinition of relations between the European Union and Middle Eastern countries regularly obstructing journalists’ rights and violating freedom of speech. You can read the petition and sign it at www.comiteeuropeensamirkassir.com

I, personally, saw the man dead in his car minutes after the horrific accident took place. Today, the damages were fixed and the road where Samir Kassir died is back to normal with the addition of a commemorative monument in his memory. I’m publishing, for the first time, the pictures I took on this sad day.

Two explosions occurred in Lebanon in the last couple of days. Well yes, everything I can write about the country is how many bombs detonated and how many people died. Let’s not exaggerate, Lebanon is still far in the standings compared to Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia or else when it comes to the ratio of bombs blowing up per day, but we’re getting there - is that supposed to make us feel safe not being in the Top 3.

On Friday the 16th of September, a car exploded in the highly inhabited region of Geitawi in Achrafieh, a neighborhood mainly inhabited by the Christian community of Beirut, the capital. Security forces determined that a suit case filled with 10 Kgs of explosive was placed under the car in question. The detonation occurred shortly before midnight near a branch of Lebanese Byblos Bank. Some people recall hearing the blast kilometers away; others, although living nearby the place didn’t hear it. The material damages were severe, a building almost collapsed and lots of glass broke. One man, the tenant of a restaurant, was killed; at least 22 others were wounded. The politicians, who are currently fighting outside the country - in New York that is, where the U.N. is holding it’s annual general assembly - condemned the event and accused “I don’t know who” of causing insecurity in the country and scaring the Lebanese people. All I can hope is for the wounded citizens to get well soon; as for the politicians I hope scientist will discover soon a cure for their disease.

A couple of days later, on Monday the 19th of September, a hand grenade exploded in the Kuwaiti Information Office in Hamra, another district of Beirut. Local newspaper quoted the Kuwaiti ambassador stating that one of the employees was playing with a hand grenade left over - I don’t buy this crap - in the office. The employee was killed, another one wounded in circumstances the ambassador qualified of “accidental”. I heard another version of the story from “unofficial” sources. The story states that the office received a booby-trapped package. When one of the employees opened it, well it exploded. This event was less covered by worldwide press although it could have turned to a diplomatic incident.

3 Days have already passed since a major political event occurred in the country. On August 30st 2005, several former top security services chiefs and were arrested, suspected of being involved in P.M. Hariri assassination on the 14th of February 2005. The arrested officials, all close to President Emile Lahoud, served during the Syrian occupation period which ended a couple of month ago following international pressure mainly by the U.S.A.

The arrested officials, all pro-Syrians (what a coincidence), are:
- Major General Jamil Sayed: former head of internal security forces. He was believed by a lot of Lebanese people to be the man who ruled the country during the Syrian occupation.
- Brigadier General Ali El Hajj: former head chief of the police. He was appointed by the pro-Syrian regime.
- Raymond Azar: former chief of the Lebanese secret services and military intelligence.
- General Mustafa Hamdan: head (till today) of President Emile Lahoud presidential guard. He was refused a couple of weeks ago a visa to accompany President Lahoud on a trip to the U.S.A. to attend the U.N. general assembly.
- Nasser Qandil: former Member of Parliament. He was located in Syria when the raids by the Lebanese authorities were conducted. He came back to Lebanon and surrendered himself to the police after a long (very long, very very long… speech) at the Lebanese-Syrian borders.

The suspects were interrogated by Detlev Mehlis, chief of the U.N. investigation team, and are currently still in police custody. The authorities will decide whether they should be released or not in the coming days. Mehlis mentioned that more arrests are to come, some of which should occur in Damascus.

Concurrently, Lebanese divers, assisted by English divers, have been investigating the explosion place searching for body pieces, car parts and other objects that could help out with the investigation.

This incident is the first major advance in the investigation process and came as a relief by the Hariri family, the Lebanese people and more generally the international community. Let’s hope that this time the criminals will be caught and prosecuted; and the assassination will not be forgotten as it was the case for similar cases in Lebanon for several years.

The series of explosions hitting Lebanon for the last couple of month doesn’t seem to be nearing its end.

At 11 pm local time, an explosion rocked in Zalka, a northern suburb of Beirut mainly but not exclusively inhabited by the Christian community. According to local TV, 30 kgs of TNT were placed in la Cité Moussa, a highly frequented commercial space. Five people were wounded and no casualties were reported by the media or the security forces. Some people believe that the bomb was placed in a way not to cause heavy casualties - should we feel secure now? -, it could have killed hundreds if it detonated a couple of meters away.

Witnesses talked about the earth shaking and lot of glass breaking. The material damages were rather big compared to other explosions in Lebanon lately, two buildings partly collapsed and lots of shops were affected including Starbucks Coffee Shop and a nearby a hotel called Promenade.

Other minor stuff related to the explosion: the PM and several politicians condemned the “acts of terror” that have been shaking Lebanon and the Lebanese people, but seriously who give a shit about what the politicians have to say, the damage was already caused!

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.