Open Routes between East and West Beirut

A map of beirut showing the safe routes you can use while moving between West and East Beirut and in addition showing areas which are still presumably closed and closed, and the areas which have witnessed the recent clashes.

The open routes which are indicated on the map are the ones which we have used to get between east and west beirut, and are the ones that cab drivers use to transport people.

The best time for movement is between 8:00 AM and 3:00 PM recomended by journalists, reporters and cab drivers.

It is recommended that everyone to always hold their Identification Papers and Passports at all times.

May 12 Update

General Situation Report:

North: There has been heavy clashes in the morning and during the day between Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, between Loyalist and Opposition forces, main roads and junctions are still closed, a renewed truce and Cease-Fire starts at 6:00 pm, there is a risk that the situation might escalate in the North.

Bekaa: There has been some clashes on the Syrian Lebanese Borders at Masnaa between Loyalists and Opposition forces, the situation is still shaken.

Western Bekaa: The area has witnessed minor clashes, but the situation is calm and shaken

Saida: the Situation there is calm, there has been reports about some fighters being present in the streets, and there has been calls from many local officials and representatives to hold in the situation and preserve peace, yet the situation is still shaken.

Western Beirut: Situation have been calm till now, reports recommends to stay cautious.

Eastern Beirut: no signs of clashes, mobility is low, situation is cautious but not shaken.

Mount Lebanon: The army is till progressing through villages and towns, the army has not been able yet to control the whole area, there has been repetitive small incidents and clashes in the mountain, but the situation is generally calm and cautious, situation is still shaken.

South Lebanon: Movement around the blue line is restricted and considered to be unsafe, no reports about incidents nor clashes from south Lebanon

Road to Syria through Masnaa is still closed, road to the Airport is still closed, the Airoprt have adjurned all scheuled flights out and in the country.

The situation in general is still shaken and awaiting future steps of both parties (opposition and loyalists) there has been some reports that USS Cole is advancing to lebanese shores (Al Jazeera). The next few days will be determining on the shape of events in Lebanon.

May 11th Update

A Map of today's clashes in Mount Lebanon.

The Fights in Mount Lebanon Still continues mostly concentrated in Druze areas where there is mixed forces of opposition and loyalists.

Heavy fires, the largest since the begining of the clashes are being witnessed in various places in Mount Lebanon, the Main Political Forces in Mount Lebanon are: The Democratic Party (Ereslanis), The Tawhid Party (Weam Wahab) and the Progressive Socialist Party (Walid Junblat), Both of the Democratic Party and the Tawhid Party are with the opposition while the PSP is with the Loyalists and in governement.

A cease Fire is supposed to take place strating 6:00 pm in Mount Lebanon

***

Heavy Fighting in the North between loyalists and opposition, the fights are mainly taking place in Akkar (Halba) and between Tebeneh Area and Jabal Mohsen on the outskirts of Tripoli, The road between Beddawi and Tripoli is still blocked, and there is high tensions in Beddawi Area

A truce has been reached but there has been no confirmation if the it will hold on.

***

General Situation



Update on the Lebanon's Map on the recent Clashes

Situation Update: (7:30 PM)

North: The cease fire in the north is still holding, main roads are still blocked and mobility is still ristricted between Triploi and Akkar and between Akkar and Syria, The general situation in the north is still unresolved between opposition and loyalists.

Mount Lebanon: Army has strated to spread over most villages in Mount Lebanon, and the situation is still quite.

Beirut: Army has spread over all areas in central and western beirut, mobility is still risitricted between east and west, airport road is still closed, All Flights in beirut international airports have been suspended.

Bekaa: the situation is still calm, no clashes have been recorded, but tensions are still existing, main roads and junctions are still closed

South: Main roads connecting the South to Beirut are still witnessing blocks, but no confirmation if roads are open or not

Generally, life have to started to kick in into beirut, with a very slow pace, there are still some fears, since the political conflict has not been resolved yet and everyone is just waiting for the reply of the Governement to the recent developments. Opposition's Civil disobedience still continues and main junctions and roads are still blocked.

May 10th Update

(click on Map for Larger Version)

Roughly compiled map of the recent clashes that recently occured in Lebanon

Red dotes show the clashes across Lebanon 7-10 May 2008.

The map colour codes areas where one sect is the majority

The representation of the sects is based on 2004 electoral votes, but the map is a very rough representation of the distribution of lebanese confessions and can not been considered as exact or near-exact, the map only presents a general overview of confessions.

The Map is no indicator of political distribution between opposition and loyalists, as it is not based solely on sectarian divisions.

May 9th Update

A Map of Beirut showing where recent clashes have took place (click on map for larger version)

Clashes between opposition and loyalists spread over many places in the country, with records of fights happening in Beirut, Tripoli, Mount Lebanon and Bekaa

Many people have head to supermarkets and food stores to get supplies, as it seems that a general stay-away is in place.

Prices on some imported products have dropped a bit

Main streets and Junctions are still blocked, mobility is concentrated on a very localized level, lockdown rate is estimated to be about 80% (in beirut)

LEBANON: High prices, low wages feed violent political stand-off

Source: IRIN UN News Website


BEIRUT, 8 May 2008 (IRIN) - Ramzi Ali was nearly 13 when his parents took him out of school to work as a motorbike mechanic.

"Conditions are hard, and political tensions are destroying the country," said Ali, now 14, as he manned a barricade of burning tyres in central Beirut on 7 May. "My parents just couldn't afford to keep me at school any more."

Anti-government protesters blocked roads with burning tyres across the Lebanese capital on 7 May after Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah, and an allied Christian party, threw their weight behind a general strike called by the country's union federation to demand higher wages and decry high prices.

A pall of smoke hovered above a city of shuttered shops and empty roads, as workers either obeyed the strike call or stayed at home for fear of the sectarian violence that flares up periodically in Beirut and stokes fears of civil war.

Gunmen exchanged fire in central areas of Beirut that are mixed Sunni and Shia Muslim, and therefore divided between supporters of the Sunni Future Movement, part of the pro-Western governing coalition, and the Shia opposition Hezbollah and Amal parties.

The strike was called by labour unions after rejecting a last-minute government increase in the monthly minimum wage from US$200 to $330. Recent research by Lebanese economic consultancy InfoPro found that wages averaged $500 while the actual minimum wage was around $320, making the increase irrelevant to most workers.

Prices up

Prices of basic commodities have spiked over the past month.

Reuters video short on strike n Beirut

atch larger version of video

A grocer in Ras al-Nabeh neighbourhood of Beirut said a bottle of cooking oil had risen from $4 to $6.5, while the price of sugar had doubled. Where one dollar used to buy 1.5kg of bread, it now buys 1.1kg. Chickpeas and grains that are a staple of Lebanese diets, meat and vegetables have also risen.

According to the consumer association, prices have risen by 43 percent over the past 21 months, while the official unemployment rate stands at 10 percent. Independent estimates put it at 20 percent.

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh also said last week that the inflation rate had risen by 10 percent, due to a rise in oil prices on international markets, food prices and the weakening of the dollar against other currencies.

Personal testimonies

Mahmoud, an unemployed 20-year-old at the barricade who preferred not to give his full name, said rising prices and low wages made it harder for young men to get ahead.

"At this rate, I'll never get married," he said. "You have to work several jobs at once just to make ends meet, and it's hard even to find one… Women don't want to marry a man who can't afford even to rent his own home," he said.

Both young men, who said they were Hezbollah supporters from the mainly Shia Muslim southern suburbs of Beirut, blamed the government for Lebanon's worsening living conditions.

Striking taxi drivers in southern Beirut

"Every time we protest about price rises and low wages, or the policies of this government that's on Western life-support, we're told we're stirring Sunni-Shia strife," said Mahmoud.

Because the strike was associated with the opposition, some government supporters were showing their defiance.

In a pro-government part of the eastern area of Achrafieh, Raymond Charbel, a 68-year-old father of three, defied the strike to keep his run-down dry-cleaning shop open despite the dearth of customers.

Food to feed his family had become harder to afford, he said, saying lemons - much used in Lebanese cooking - had more than doubled from about $0.75 a kilogram to $1.75. "Inflation and economic ruin is affecting everybody, so what good is closing down the roads so no one can work?" he asked.

Causes of the crisis

Rami Zurayk, professor of land and water resources at the American University of Beirut, said the crisis resulted from a combination of global commodity and oil price rises and economic mismanagement by successive governments since Lebanon's 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

Those policies had focused on sectors of the economy that directly contributed to national growth, rather than on job-creation, development and investment in such sectors as farming, he said.

"So inequality between the people of Lebanon has continued to increase over time," Zurayk said.

Gradual economic disintegration was a catalyst for the political problems and the sectarianism that plague Lebanon, he argued.

"Bad economics produces a situation in which politicians become powerful, because you have to hide behind a sect, a leader, and become a client in order to survive. In turn, the bad economic situation is hijacked by political parties in order to apply pressure."

Tensions

A stand-off on the flashpoint Corniche Al-Mazraa road between government and opposition supporters, with the army separating the two, illustrated how far Lebanon's polarised politicians are from reaching a deal to end the 18-month political crisis.

Tensions between Hezbollah and the government of Prime Minister Fouad al-Saniora escalated this week after the latter banned the guerrilla and political group's private telephone system, calling it a threat to the state.

Hezbollah said the network was part of its military defence against Israel, which it fought in a July 2006 war, and that tampering with it was collaboration and tantamount to disarming the group. Hezbollah's weapons lie at the heart of the political standoff.

The government also this week vowed to sack the security chief at Beirut international airport over allegations of aiding Hezbollah place cameras there to monitor private jets. Airport employees stopped working for six hours while opposition protesters blocked roads to the airport, leading to the cancellation or delay of 19 incoming and 13 outgoing flights.

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