Looking back on Beirut

I was in Beirut just two weeks ago and it was a great vibrant city of street cafes, bustling coastline runs and exotic nightlife. It is remarkable and depressing how the turn of events have turned the city almost overnight back to the dark days of the war.

My IFES colleagues had to be driven out through Syria and are now in Amman. The two Lebanese staff members are hunkered down in their homes (in the case of the christian) and on the IFES office floor (in the case of the Sunni woman who lives in Sunni South Beirut).







The photos illustrate how Beirut felt 14 days ago.