Pulverising the Paris of the East

Downtown Beirut took a 深い breath and waited for nightfall. This is the 注目する，もくろむ of the Israeli ハリケーン which continued to 激怒（する） across Lebanon yesterday like an Old Testament 罰.

As the sun dipped over the western sea, a nervous 静める 勝つ／広く一帯に広がるd here, though throughout the day 大混乱 and death had visited as little as a mile away.

? Dateline Haifa: A ghost town echoes to the sounds of war

The city's seaport, the southern 郊外s - rich in Hezbollah 的s - the airport and a 燃料 貯蔵 倉庫・駅, which continued to 炎 long after it had been 攻撃する，衝突する, had all been blitzed, again. Night time would bring another 一斉射撃，（質問などの）連発／ダム, few 疑問d that.

But the historic heart of the eastern Mediterranean's most cosmopolitan city was as yet untouched, save for the still livid scars 原因（となる）d by car 爆弾s and 衝突s past. For how long?

Poor, helpless Beirut. In 最近の years it had been given a chance; a 簡潔な／要約する window of 再建 and 集会 wealth after １０年間s of 戦争, which had 示唆するd that once again it could be the 'Paris of the eastern Mediterranean'.

Now the Israelis were not so much 爆破 the city 支援する to the 石／投石する Age, as 支援する to the 1970s and 80s - those bad old days when Beirut was synonymous with 都市の 戦争 and self-破壊.

"商売／仕事 as usual," I was told on arrival by someone old enough to remember those times. The 反抗 was tainted by grim irony. They have seen this all before.

Few were taking any chances. A 独房監禁 fisherman cast his 棒 from the seawall, but the famous Hamra 地区, where poets and 楽しみ 探検者s have long caroused, was all but 砂漠d, save for 兵士s and 安全 guards on street corners, ちらりと見ることing at the sky.

The Leb anese, this 地域's most 献身的な 仲買人s, had shut up shop.

Many, as I saw on a 旅行 across Lebanon during the course of the day, were 長，率いるing for the 国境s.

Across the street where I am staying an old woman smoked a 麻薬を吸う as she 残り／休憩（する）d her 肘s on her windowsill, no 疑問 反映するing on a rare silence in high summer, when the 豊富な of the Middle East usually come to join the 地元のs.

Not a silence born of peace, but of 予期 of what might be to come.

In Beirut they know that whatever Hezbollah can （打撃，刑罰などを）与える upon Israelis, the Israeli Defence 軍隊 can 支払う／賃金 支援する ten times over. And is doing so.

Yesterday's butcher's 法案 反映するd once again that it is 非軍事のs who are 耐えるing the brunt of the 死傷者s.

Ten were 報告（する）／憶測d to have been killed and at least seven 負傷させるd when an Israeli 空気／公表する strike 攻撃する，衝突する two cars 逃げるing from south Lebanon に向かって the 資本／首都.

Nine of the dead were in one 乗り物 crossing the Rmeileh 橋（渡しをする）.

My driver, sensibly, 論証するd an utter aversion to such structures, however long the detour. "The Israelis love to 攻撃する，衝突する the 橋（渡しをする）s," he explained.

どこかよそで Israeli （警察の）手入れ，急襲s destroyed two army 地位，任命するs on the northern Lebanese coast, 殺人，大当り at least six Lebanese 兵士s. They also blitzed the homes of Hezbollah 公式の／役人s in eastern Lebanon, 殺人，大当り 11 people in more than 60 strikes.

'It is all so humiliating'

Several 爆破s echoed over the 資本／首都 and 黒人／ボイコット smoke rose from the 燃料 貯蔵 倉庫・駅. 非軍事の 取り付け・設備s, 石油 駅／配置するs and factories were also 攻撃する，衝突する.

So far, イスラエル's 報復 誘発するd by a Hezbollah 待ち伏せ／迎撃する of an IDF army patrol, the 誘拐する of two of its 兵士s and the その後の Katyusha ロケット／急騰する attacks on the north, has 報道によれば killed 181 people in Lebanon, all but 13 of them 非軍事のs, and 負傷させるd more than 500.

For those unable to take advantage of the sophisticated evacua tion 手続きs for many foreign 国家のs, there was only the long road to Syria or another night in the open.

So far almost 60,000 have been 追い出すd by the 衝突.

Beirut's small Sanayeh Garden has been turned into a 難民 （軍の）野営地，陣営.

"We've been sleeping outside on the grass. They keep telling us about schools that have opened their doors but when we get there we find them already 十分な," said Hussein Ajami, who left his home in southern Beirut five days ago.

"We had to take three children to hospital the other day 苦しむing from sun 一打／打撃. They have been giving everyone two tiny 挟むs three times a day. It is all so humiliating."

The Lebanese 内部の 省 has 始める，決める up 集会 points for families escaping the fighting.

Others are 簡単に paralysed by 恐れる. 報告（する）／憶測s of 乗り物s carrying 難民s 存在 struck by Israeli ミサイルs have 原因（となる）d many to remain where they are, albeit terrified.

I saw the 大混乱 on the Syrian 国境 yesterday as people, many of them 移民，移住（する） 労働者s, struggled with what few 所持品 they could carry.

支援する in central Beirut, those who had fled the ミサイルs took 在庫／株.

Having crammed 所持品 into their 年輩の car, Ali Sharara and his family fled the southern 郊外s when the first 爆弾s fell.

"Me and my brother have been here more than two days. My mother and sisters are in Ashrafieh 地区, I don't know where 正確に／まさに," said the 21-year-old. "I can't believe they (the Israelis) are doing all this for two 捕虜s. This is just an excuse."

地域の politics takes little 在庫／株 of his or other's lives. The ミサイルs will continue to 落ちる and innocent people will die, to 証明する a point.

In Beirut they know that only too 井戸／弁護士席.