BEIRUT: A majestic phoenix spreads its wings as Hayat Nazer adds a splash of color to a Beirut wall. As Lebanon’s uprising enters its second month, graffiti has enveloped the capital’s posh downtown.
Since October 17, the chanting of tens of thousands of Lebanese denouncing the political elite have shaken the normally staid district around two Beirut squares — Martyrs’ and Riad Al-Solh.
Nazer, a 32-year-old artist, is one of the protesters who would not normally frequent the area, famed for luxury boutiques and elegant buildings. But the unprecedented protests also offered her a first experience with street art.
“I decided to go out in the street to be inspired by the people,” she said during a cigarette break, standing next to pots of red, green and yellow paint.
Then she turned to place the final brushstroke on the mythical bird emerging from a burning forest — a reference to the fires that ravaged Lebanon’s mountains shortly before the protests began.
“The phoenix reminds us that the Lebanese shouldn’t lose hope. When we fall, we need to rise up and fly to freedom, to claim our rights,” she said.
The long concrete barrier Nazer was painting protects a United Nations building, but has been named the “wall of the revolution” for the graffiti adorning it.
A ballerina pirouettes under shells, accompanied by the slogan “Rise up.” Further down, a big purple hand flashes a V for victory.
On nearby buildings, various causes are championed with spray-painted and stenciled slogans: “Our revolution is feminist”; “LGBT rights, love is not a crime“; and “We will burn your palaces.”
Political leaders are lampooned in caricature, including outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri, longstanding parliament speaker Nabih Berri, and central bank governor Riad Salameh.
The contrast is striking compared with the nearby opulence of a district that was controversially rebuilt after being ravaged during the 1975-1990 civil war.
Today a Rolex clock tower stands in front of a parliament cordoned off by security forces. Working-class souks have been replaced by a modern commercial center, home to banks and French luxury brands.
The reconstruction of the district, famed for its stone buildings in neo-Venetian and neo-Moorish style, was led by Solidere, the real estate company of billionaire former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
Its detractors say the project killed the soul of a formerly vibrant neighborhood in order to attract Gulf investment and wealthy tourists.
“This city has become an icon of capitalism,” said artist and rights activist Selim Mawad.
He jumped onto a plastic barricade to retouch a mural of stylized bulls alongside the slogan: “What is the future of our revolution?”
Lebanon’s uprising — like protests elsewhere in the Middle East and Latin America — is both political and social.
“It’s also about personal liberation, which is the foundation of a revolution,” Mawad said.
He sees symbolism in graffiti.
“People say, ‘I can’t touch this building, I can’t live there, so I’ll leave my mark on it’,” the paint-spattered artist said.
One day, assailants attacked the protesters in the area where Mawad was painting his mural. He was beaten and his bicycle stolen.
“Give back the stolen money — and don’t forget the bike,” he later painted next to a picture of a bull brandishing a red bicycle.
He hopes the paintings will be preserved. “It’s the memory of an uprising. If they erase them, we will forget.”
Nearby, Rida Mawla left a meeting and decided to take a walk in the city center, something he said he never previously did.
“I’m starting to feel like downtown is a bit more like me,” the business consultant said.
“In theory it’s the place where everyone should meet, but the ruling class has taken possession of it,” he said.
He pointed out his favorite graffiti, a big black tag scrawled on a wall: “Beirut has spoken.”
Protest graffiti fills Beirut’s posh downtown
Protest graffiti fills Beirut’s posh downtown
- ‘The phoenix reminds us that the Lebanese shouldn’t lose hope’
- ‘In theory it’s the place where everyone should meet, but the ruling class has taken possession of it’
Jordan army flies eight helicopters with aid to Gaza
- Helicopters carrying food, medicine and supplies for children took off from Jordan
- First time for Jordanian aircraft to land in Gaza with aid since the outbreak of the conflict
Amman: Jordan’s army said Wednesday it sent eight helicopters loaded with more than seven tons of aid to Gaza, which is grappling with a humanitarian crisis after more than a year of war.
The helicopters carrying food, medicine and supplies for children took off from Jordan toward the Palestinian territory, the army said in a statement.
It was the first time for Jordanian aircraft to land in Gaza with aid since the outbreak of the conflict in October last year.
The army said the aid was being delivered to Al-Qarara, an area near Gaza’s southern city of Khan Yunis, where it would be handed over to the World Food Programme.
“The total amount of aid sent from the kingdom to the Gaza Strip is about 56,573 tons,” it added, noting the aid had been delivered through Egypt by plane, by truck and dozens of airdrops.
The majority of Gaza’s 2.4 population has been displaced by the fighting, and the UN warned on November 9 that famine was looming in some areas due to a lack of aid.
War broke out in Gaza after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 43,973 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry that the UN finds reliable.
US vetoes UN Security Council resolution on Gaza ceasefire
- Only the US voted against, using its veto as a permanent council member to block the resolution
- “As we stated many times before, we just can’t support an unconditional ceasefire that does not call for the immediate release of hostages,” US official said
UNITED NATIONS: The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza, accusing council members of cynically rejecting attempts at reaching a compromise.
The 15-member council voted on a resolution put forward by its 10 non-permanent members in a meeting that called for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” and separately demand the release of hostages.
Only the US voted against, using its veto as a permanent council member to block the resolution.
A senior US official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of the vote, said the US would only support a resolution that explicitly calls for the immediate release of hostages as part of a ceasefire.
“As we stated many times before, we just can’t support an unconditional ceasefire that does not call for the immediate release of hostages,” the official said.
Israel’s 13-month campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 44,000 people and displaced nearly all the enclave’s population at least once. It was launched in response to an attack by Hamas-led fighters who killed 1,200 people and captured more than 250 hostages in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Ahead of the vote, Britain put forward new language that the US would have supported as a compromise, but that was rejected, the US official said.
Some of the council’s 10 elected members (E10) were more interested in bringing about a US veto than compromising on the resolution, the official said, accusing Russia and China of encouraging those members.
“China kept demanding ‘stronger language’ and Russia appeared to be pulling strings with various (elected) 10 members,” the official said. “This really does undercut the narrative that this was an organic reflection of the E10 and there’s some sense that some E10 members regret that those responsible for the drafting allowed the process to be manipulated for what we consider to be cynical purposes.”
Fierce battles in southern Lebanon amid ceasefire talks
- Hochstein hints at truce, while Hezbollah rejects ‘ending war on enemy terms’
- Israeli airstrikes continued to hit southern towns, from Kfarshuba and Rashaya Al-Fakhar to Tyre, Nabatieh and Adloun
BEIRUT: Israeli troops raised their flag over the Lebanese town of Chamaa, about 5 kilometers from the border, as they pushed deep into a second line of Lebanese villages.
Elsewhere, fierce battles with Hezbollah fighters took place on Wednesday as Israeli forces advanced toward the strategic coastal town of Biyyadah.
The Israeli moves coincided with an announcement by US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut that “additional progress” had been made on the US proposal for a ceasefire.
Hochstein expressed hope that a “conclusion can be reached” after he travels to Israel for talks.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and his adviser Ali Hamdan, tasked by Hezbollah with leading external negotiations, held several rounds of discussions with Hochstein in the parliamentary headquarters and at the US Embassy in Awkar.
On Wednesday afternoon, Hochstein said: “(We have) made additional progress, so I will travel from here in a couple of hours to Israel to try to bring this to a close if we can.”
Israeli media reported that Hochstein will hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.
Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah described the US proposal as “a document of mutual commitments between the Lebanese and Israeli sides concerning the mechanism for ceasing fire under the framework of implementing Resolution 1701.”
He added: “We are facing indirect negotiations with the enemy over a document of commitments, somewhat similar to what happened in 2006 but under different circumstances. We are handling the proposals based on fundamental principles tied to our sovereignty and the protection of our land and people.”
Fadlallah said that Hezbollah remains active on the ground and said that “the war will not conclude by imposing the enemy’s conditions.”
Leaked information regarding the discussions indicated that Hezbollah agreed to include a US party in the monitoring committee for the implementation of the resolution, rather than the British or Germans.
The committee is expected to include representatives from Washington, Paris, an Arab country, potentially Egypt, and the UN.
Hochstein oversaw meetings on the ceasefire proposals that included former President Michel Aoun at his residence, and Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces party, at his home.
Meanwhile, confrontations in southern Lebanon intensified amid protests from UNIFIL forces and other participating countries regarding the targeting of their positions, and the injuring of peacekeeping soldiers by both Israel and Hezbollah.
The leadership of UNIFIL said on Tuesday that “peacekeeping forces and their facilities were targeted in three separate incidents in southern Lebanon, resulting in injuries to six peacekeepers. Four Ghanaian soldiers were injured by a missile while performing their duties, which was likely launched by non-governmental entities within Lebanon, striking their base east of the town of Ramiayh.”
UNIFIL said that despite these challenges, peacekeeping forces will remain in their locations, and continue to monitor and report violations of Resolution 1701.
As Israeli attacks targeted the Lebanese army for the second day in a row, Lebanon announced the death of four of its soldiers.
Three were killed in an attack on their post in Sarafand on Tuesday, while a fourth was killed by an Israeli strike on a medical army vehicle on the road linking Burj Al-Muluk and Qalaa.
The Israeli army claimed that it “killed two Hezbollah leaders responsible for missile attacks that targeted northern Israel, including the commander of the Lebanese coastal sector’s anti-tank unit.”
It also revealed late on Tuesday that Ali Munir Shaito, who is in charge of Hezbollah’s southern front in Syria, was the target of last Sunday’s airstrike on Beirut’s Mar Elias district.
Israeli airstrikes continued to hit southern towns, from Kfarshuba and Rashaya Al-Fakhar to Tyre, Nabatieh and Adloun.
However, Beirut and its southern suburb had a second day of cautious calm.
According to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry complaint to the Security Council, a total of 27 civil defense personnel have been killed by Israeli attacks, while 76 have been injured.
As of Tuesday, the death toll in the overall Israeli war on Lebanon reached 3,544, along with 15,036 injuries.
Israel says not fighting Lebanese army, after soldiers killed
- “We emphasize that the (Israeli army) is operating precisely against the Hezbollah terrorist organization,” the military said
- “The (army) is looking into reports regarding soldiers of the Lebanon Armed Forces who were injured during the strike”
JERUSALEM: Israel’s military said Wednesday it was fighting the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, not the Lebanese army, after the latter said four of its soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes.
“We emphasize that the (Israeli army) is operating precisely against the Hezbollah terrorist organization and is not operating against the Lebanon Armed Forces,” the military told AFP in a statement.
The Lebanese army said Israeli fire killed a soldier Wednesday, a day after it said three other personnel died in a strike on their position in the town of Sarafand, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the southern border.
South Lebanon has seen intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants whose group holds sway in the area.
Israel’s military said it struck “a terrorist infrastructure site in which a number of Hezbollah terrorists were operating in the area of Sarafand” on Tuesday night.
“The (army) is looking into reports regarding soldiers of the Lebanon Armed Forces who were injured during the strike,” it added, but did not refer to the other deadly incident mentioned by the Lebanese army.
Since September 23, Israel has ramped up its bombing campaign in Lebanon, later sending in ground troops, after almost a year of cross-border exchanges begun by Hezbollah in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas.
Israel insists on right to act against Hezbollah in any deal to end fighting
- Lebanon’s government is likely to view any such demand as an infringement on its sovereignty
- Hochstein told reporters the talks had made “additional progress”
BEIRUT: Israel’s defense minister says his country insists on the right to act militarily against Hezbollah in any agreement to end the fighting in Lebanon.
Lebanon’s government is likely to view any such demand as an infringement on its sovereignty, complicating efforts to end more than a year of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah that erupted into all-out war in September.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement Wednesday that “the condition for any political settlement in Lebanon is the preservation of the intelligence capability and the preservation of the (Israeli military’s) right to act and protect the citizens of Israel from Hezbollah.”
Lebanese officials mediating between Israel and Hezbollah have called for a return to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between the sides.
It calls for Hezbollah militants and Israeli forces to withdraw from a buffer zone in southern Lebanon patrolled by UN peacekeepers and Lebanese troops.
US envoy Amos Hochstein, who has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, held a second round of talks on Wednesday with Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah who has been mediating on their behalf.
Hochstein told reporters the talks had made “additional progress,” and that he would be heading to Israel “to try to bring this to a close, if we can.” He declined to say what the sticking points are.
Israeli strikes and combat in Lebanon have killed more than 3,500 people and wounded 15,000, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. The war has displaced nearly 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.
On the Israeli side, 87 soldiers and 50 civilians, including some foreign farmworkers, have been killed by attacks involving rockets, drones and missiles. Hezbollah began firing on Israel the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack triggered the war in Gaza.
That attack killed some 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians, and another 250 were abducted. Around 100 hostages remain inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed nearly 44,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Lebanese army said in a statement a soldier was killed by an Israeli airstrike that hit his vehicle on the road linking Burj Al-Muluk and Qalaa in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military said it was looking into reports.
The night before, three soldiers were killed by an airstrike that targeted an army post in the town of Sarafand, near the coastal city of Saida.
Wissam Khalifa, a resident of Sarafand who lives next to the army post and was injured in the strike, said he was shocked that it was targeted.
“It’s a safe residential neighborhood. There is nothing here at all” that would present a target, he said. “Regarding the martyred soldiers, I don’t even know if there was a gun in the center. Why did this strike happen? We have no idea.”
The Lebanese army has not been an active participant in the fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah over the past 13 months, but more than 40 soldiers have been killed in the conflict.
Altogether, more than 3,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since Oct. 8, 2023, the vast majority of them in the past two months.
