Word: lebanon
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...Lebanon's political crisis appears to be heading for a showdown with a call by the Hizballah-led opposition for a general strike Tuesday, intended to paralyze the country and hasten the fall of the Western-backed government...
...Lebanon is still recovering from the ravages of last summer's 34-day war between Hizballah and Israel, which left over 1,000 Lebanese civilians dead and caused damage estimated at almost $4 billion. Hizballah's once heavily guarded and sealed-off headquarters in Beirut's southern suburbs was completely destroyed by multiple Israeli air strikes, and with its leaders still under the threat of assassination by Israel, security around them is tight. To reach Qassem, this reporter was driven by Hizballah security personnel into an unlit basement of a building then bundled into a minibus with blacked-out windows...
...Skiing is possible in Lebanon because the swift rise of the coastal mountain range, coming after the broad expanse of the open Mediterranean, creates updrafts that keep the high country cold even when it might be 60 or 70 degrees at the shore. While the old tourism industry cliché that in Lebanon you can go alpine skiing in the morning and water skiing in the afternoon might be technically true, I don't know anyone who's tried. Even in late March (which is about as long as the ski season lasts) the sea is too cold for much...
...into a semi-permanent protest zone has also scared off foreign tourists, a crucial part of the economy. Bookings are down by as much as 60 percent from last year at Skileb, an online ski package operator that deals mostly with foreigners. Although skiing represents only about 10% of Lebanon's tourism market, Lebanon's economy is under such duress after the past summer's war with Israel that the country needs every ski bunny...
...They'll be back soon though, according to Ronald Sayegh, the founder of Skileb. "Arabs understand the situation," he said. "The nice thing is that once it's calm, they are always ready to come to Lebanon. As long as we have snow." Indeed, with hardly any snow in the Alps thanks to an extraordinarily mild winter in Europe, desperate Western powder hounds may not have much alternative to doing their skiing in the Middle East...