Diary of a war in 2006 

Posted on October 21, 2008

My niece Joanna returned home around 11 p.m. and I will tell her a piece of my thoughts since she considers herself a sensible and an intelligent creature.  

 She has to drive at least 40 minutes on a deserted road and with one million refugees, people hungry and out of jobs and in dire need of gas, the possibilities for unusual behaviors might be understandable in this frustrating time.

Israel did a major incursion toward the town of Marjehyoun with a long file of tanks early this morning; two of its top commanders were killed.  By 10:30 the Israeli armed forces were retreating from the town.  There are indications that Israel is no longer serious about reaching the Litany River but it is attempting a few scary tactics for the last minutes political gains at the UN.  There are also indications that the Lebanese government has no other choices but to hold on to its program agreed at by consensus.

Israel targeted the Lebanese TV antenna in Amchit, near Byblos, and the old lighthouse near Koraytem, Al Manara, in Beirut and we should expect rockets raining on Tel Aviv if Nasr Allah decides to confirm his promises according to Hezbollah’s rules of the war.

Around noon, there was breaking news of an attempted attack on the London airport of Heathrow.  Britain and the USA are under Red Alert or the danger of imminent “terrorist” attacks.  No liquids of any kind are permitted on flights within the respective countries. The US minister of the interior is connecting these attacks to the “Al Qaeda” of Bin Laden.  Israel PM   Olmert has suspended the major land incursion pending the so called diplomatic outcomes.

In the afternoon, I dressed up and drove my mother to the funeral of one of our local poet Khalil Rasheed Fakhoury who composed the anthem of our internal security forces.  My plan was to offer my condolence to the bereaved family members of the poet but I could not find a place to park along the road for half a mile.  So I turned back, deposited my mom by the church and then resumed my trip to the gym.

While at the gym I have been hearing the Israeli jets flying over Beirut and suspected that they might target the suburbs of Shiyah and Burj Barajni as their flyers were warning the citizens.  This time the jets did not hurl their bombs on the suburb of Beirut but they targeted many more bridges and roads in the south and the Bekaa Valley.

Hezbollah launched more than 150 rockets on northern Israel and targeted Haifa as well.  Israel continued to evacuate the town of Kiryat Shemouna.

I came back home late after 9:45 p.m. on account that Joanna has the habit of not abiding by any closing time. I found my mother furious.  She claimed that I said that I will be back soon, which I didn’t, and she had to wait at my aunt Montaha’s home. 

Montaha was getting sleepy and my mom had to visit a neighbor’s of Montaha to give her a lift.  After super I intended to join my nephews and Michael (don’t recall who is this Michael) for a game of poker but the electricity went off, public and private.  I lighted a few candles and went to bed.  It appears that the public electricity came back soon while asleep and my nephews played different games and some of them went to bed at 6.

Note: A couple of days before the certain cease fire by the UN, Israel committed 2 major crimes against humanity.

First, Israel spread over a million cluster bombs in the south (received from Scotland on order of Britain PM Blair. Lebanon and teams of the UN peacekeeping contingents are still demining this large region in 2020 that harvested dozens of citizens and maimed scores of them.

Second, totally destroyed a half-mile radius of very dense Dahiyat in Beirut, using depleted uranium