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The Lebanon I love will rise once more

Richard Beeston

Wednesday, 19th July 2006

Richard Beeston has known Beirut for five decades, since the days when Kim Philby lived there. Here he recounts a recent visit to the city he loves

Looking at modern Lebanon it is hard not to mourn the passing of the country I knew and loved. Most people would blame the years of civil conflict for destroying it. But as I toured the country on the eve of the latest blitz by Israel’s air force and navy, construction rather than destruction appeared to be Lebanon’s downfall. Since I last lived here a greedy frenzy of uncontrolled building has changed the landscape for ever. Gone are the elegant Ottoman buildings that gave Beirut its special charm and in their place stand hideous concrete apartment blocks and hotels, jostling with each other for a view of the Mediterranean along the length of the coast road from Beirut to Tripoli. Even in ancient Tyre thousands of years of history have been concreted over, despite the pleas of Unesco, in order to build a tourist resort over the southern Phoenician port.

One part of Beirut was saved. At vast expense, and entirely thanks to the efforts of the then prime minister Rafik Hariri, the small central section of the city was restored to its original beauty, creating an oasis of nostalgia, even though it is surrounded by war-damaged buildings and towering office blocks. Hariri became a hero to many Lebanese both for his restoration of downtown Beirut and for his efforts to free Lebanon from the Syrian occupation that resulted from the civil war. Last year, for his stand against Syria, he paid with his life.

A year since his assassination, outside the entrance to the Hotel St Georges, nothing has changed. All five floors of the hotel’s frontage have been destroyed by a massive bomb, as well as the surrounding buildings, leaving a huge crater in the road. More than 20 people died in the terrorist attack launched to eliminate one man.

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