Word: beirutization
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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There are no longer any Hizballah fighters surrounding the grand red sandstone Beirut town house belonging to Walid Jumblatt, a member of Parliament and one of the leaders of Lebanon's governing coalition. Still, Jumblatt, a top American ally, is under virtual house arrest. After the lightning speed with which opposition Hizballah fighters defeated government supporters in a six-hour battle on Thursday - only to vanish a few hours later - it became clear that it is pointless to resist the Iranian and Syrian-backed militia, which could return at any time. "I am a hostage now in my home...
...After just three days of clashes and just six hours of full-on fighting, Hizballah militants were openly in control of pro-government areas of West Beirut, making for some incongruous scenes. Bearded men with rifles and rocket launchers secured lingerie shops and a Starbucks in the commercial Hamra district, surrounded the houses of ministers and members of parliament, and watched buses evacuate students from the American University of Beirut. "It was like a field trip for us," said one Hizballah fighter standing on the Corniche, the city's seaside promenade. "Some of them were begging us not to kill...
...denounced the government's attempt to shut down a private Hizballah telecom network used to coordinate military activity, opposition street gangs backed by a few trained fighters flushed out pro-government gangs from their positions. Hizballah regulars emerged only to close things out and make lightning incursions into West Beirut on Friday. By Saturday morning, most of them had vanished...
...With a cease-fire in effect this morning, many residents of central Beirut loaded their children, their valuables and sometimes their maids into their cars and headed for the hills or for relatives in safer parts of town. Few expect the calm to last. The American-supported Lebanese government appears unwilling to give into conditions set by Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Syrian and Iranian backed opposition, for calling an end to the opposition's three-day siege of Beirut. Indeed, what began as a labor protest by unions demanding a wage hike is morphing into...
...sight of several Lebanese army units pulling out of their positions in central Beirut and returning to the safety of their bases bodes worse than politicians fighting on the airwaves. For the past few days, the army has vainly tried to prevent some of the clashes, which took place mainly in neighborhoods where Shi'a and Sunni districts meet. Because the country's constitution divides power among the largest religious groups, Lebanon's political stand-off has devolved into a sectarian one, with the main action pitting Shi'a Muslim opposition groups - first among them Hizbollah - against Sunni Muslim government...