Word: southernization
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...than an hour to reach Tyre from Beirut, a speedy cruise down the coastal highway past the banana plantations and orange groves that fill the narrow littoral wedged between the Mediterranean sea and the Lebanese mountains. Not any more. After Israel's onslaught against Lebanon began last Wednesday, the southern portion of the country was quickly sealed off after all the bridges crossing the Litani river, which runs across much of southern Lebanon, were destroyed and roads cratered, making them impassable...
...time the winding road descends into the chalky hills around the southern Lebanese market town of Nabatieh, the roads have cleared of all vehicles. Indeed, the ramshackle villages with their litter-strewn streets appear deserted. Occasionally one or two people are seen, sitting in plastic chairs on the side of the road, chatting and smoking cigarettes. The shops, however are all closed. And high above is the incessant, threatening rumble of Israeli jets and the irritating whine of reconnaissance drones...
...This morning I went to the southern suburbs of Bir al-Abed with Rania, my friend and occasional translator. Bir al-Abed is a poor, Shi'ite area whose residents mainly support Hizballah. But there were no people there today; it was practically deserted, with shops shuttered, no cars on the streets. Bir al-Abed is close to Hizballah's headquarters, which are in the next neighborhood, so - like most areas in the southern part of the city - it's been pounded for almost a week. Bridges and overpasses have been reduced to rubble. Several intersections have been turned into...
...shifted to religious radicals, including the founders of Hamas and Hizballah. And new forms of warfare challenge Israeli capabilities. In 1948, 1967 and 1973, Israel defeated all comers in traditional battle. But it is now fighting an asymmetrical war against small cells who hide among civilians in Gaza and southern Lebanon. It is hard to wage such a war without alienating those you want on your side. Insurgents commit an atrocity--and wait for the ruling power to overreact, kill civilians and give the cycle of hatred another twist...
...shop at a rooftop hotel bar and waited for the next Israeli bombs to fall. Almost immediately, the sky erupted with what sounded like antiaircraft fire but turned out to be red and green fireworks garishly flashing over the hot, dark city. The Shi'ite residents of Beirut's southern suburbs, pummeled all day by the Israeli assault, were celebrating Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah's declaration of war with Israel...