"North Lebanon became a real base for extremism and constitutes a danger for Syria"

Thi is what Bashar al Assad said during an interview that's gonna be published by the daily al-Bayraq on Tuesday. Does that explain the 10 000 soldiers digging trenches at the Lebanese northern border?

ANOTHER REPORT ON ANTENA3

TWO DAYS IN TYRE

Stayed on the Corniche, on the tenth floor (thank you Tony for the two wonderful days), I saw the sunset from the balcony, the mountain in the south ( and behind the mountainn is Israel), got a glimpse of Naqoura glittering in the night.


Went on a trip though the souk (Thank you, Tony, for that too), felt all the smells possible and impossible.

And tried the local fashion. Not for too long, though. The scarf just didn't want to stay on my head.

But it was fun, and the lady in the souk was nice to show me how to it on. I had no idea there are actually two ways of wearing it.

SO THAT'S WHY THE SYRIANS SENT TROOPS AT THE BORDER

My guess is that they knew there was a possibility of a a bomb. But it happened anyway, with all the tight security and the mukhabarrat in the black Peugeut and slippers (as the Lebanese always joke around). 17 people dead, 14 injured. They don't know anything, they don't wanna say anything of course.
Of course it looks like Al Qaida. It's their style. If there was a lebanese faction trying to assasinate a politician, army leader or anybody else cause them problems they would have assassinated that particular person. Not 17 civilians. They wouldnt have used 200 kilos of explosive, although the pictures do not look as 200 kilos of explosive blew up in that area. A Sayinda Zeinab Mosque would have been blown up too. But anyway, 17 people died. Al Qaida must be pissed at Assad and his army at the border.

BURIED IN THREATS

It seems like ever since Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh has been killed in a Damascus car bombing in February, the Israeli officials complain they get way more kidnapping and assasination threats. The threats target mainly senior IDF officers and security officials, Yedioth Ahronoth reports. The Israelis foiled 10 kidnap attempts in the recent years. Of course, the israeli paper does not say how many years. But it says this:

"The senior security officials told the cabinet that the defense establishment has most recently helped an IDF major-general escape a Middle East country after obtaining information that his life was in danger.

"Hizbullah's drive to abduct officers and other security personnel stationed outside Israel is skyrocketing," noted a source in the defense establishment.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak urged all Israelis to abide by the Counter Terrorism Bureau's travel advisories: "The government, through its various security agencies, is doing its best to map out all of the threats and warn the public. But responsibility lies first and foremost on the travelers."

WAR'S A NO NO, BUSH SAYS

I read in Haaretz a few weeks ago the Olmert was sort of upset because Bush refused to give him permission to attack Iran. Of course some of my Lebanese friends told me "Haha, they are afraid." Ya, right. Ok, now it's all in the Guardian. So something must be true. Israel would hit Iran anytime and they are ready for it. And that's why the Heybollah guys are ready for battle at the southern border. They need to defend their bank.

"The British newspaper The Guardian on Thursday quoted European officials as saying that the United States earlier this year refused to agree to an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

According to the report, "European diplomatic sources" said that "Israel gave serious thought this spring to launching a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites but was told by President George W. Bush that he would not support it and did not expect to revise that view for the rest of his presidency."

The Guardian quoted the sources as saying that the issue was raised during a one-on-one meeting between Bush and outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert during the American president's trip to Israel in May to mark its 60th anniversary.
The sources reportedly attributed the American rejection of an Israeli attack to two factors: fear of Iranian retaliatory attacks on American targets, and concern that an Israeli strike would not successfully take out Iran's nuclear facilities, which are not concentrated in a single area, and some of which are subterranean.

Haaretz reported earlier this month that the U.S. denied Israel a security aid package including "bunker-buster" bombs, permission to use an air corridor to Iran, and an advanced technological system out of concern that Israel would use it to attack nuclear facilities in Iran. "

YES, I HAVE TO CATCH UP

Well, it's been a nice period for the past two weeks. But I neglected this blog a bit and it seems I have to catch up on writing a few things here. In the meantime I read this on Naharnet.

Syria has boosted its military presence along the northern border with Lebanon, although Damascus stressed that the move is linked to a crackdown against smugglers.

"Nearly 10,000 Syrian special forces have been deployed in the Abboudieh region along the border between Lebanon and Syria," a Lebanese army spokesman said.

"We asked Damascus for clarification and we were told that the measures were strictly internal and on Syrian territory, and that they were in no way directed against Lebanon," he added.

The spokesman said the Syrian authorities have assured the Lebanese army that the build-up is aimed at cracking down on smuggling and other crime along the border.

The strengthened deployment is visible from the Lebanese side of the border.

Al-Mustaqbal newspaper on Tuesday said the Syrian deployment was "nothing but a cover-up" for digging wells along the border.

It said Syrian trucks have carried out a similar operation a few weeks ago on the Lebanese part of the village of Wadi al-Ashaer in Rashaya province.

Al Mustaqbal said the digging only stopped following the personal intervention of President Michel Suleiman.

Meanwhile, the daily Asharq al-Awsat quoted political sources as expressing fear that the Syrian move was likely a cover-up provided by Turkey or even France for any action to be taken against "extremists" in north Lebanon.

The sources, however, ruled out any U.S. cover-up for this measure.

SECOND STORY ON THE WAY

I'm uploading the footage right now. It takes ages, but I'm in a Costa's Cafe in Sassine, so the ages are a bit shorter that in my home with the broadband shit for which I pay 35 dollars a month.

The story is about Frere Felician Tămaş again. But this time done properly. He even sings. The long story will be in Jurnalul National on Monday. Mr. Christian Silva took the pictures.

FIRST REPORT ON ANTENA3

A TRIP TO BEKAA

It’s known as Hezbollah land. It has been bombed in 2006. It’s on the way from Beirut to Damascus. It’s one of the most fertile areas in the Middle East, where huge clusters of watermelons wait on the roadsides. Bekaa Valley is not the fortress I expected, except for the 6 or 7 soldiers who check the cars on the highway at the entrance in the valley.

To reach Bekaa you have to take Damascus road, cross the mountains and pass through the mountain resorts. The view is spectacular. Dr. Nabil Outa and his wife sit in the front. I’m in the backseat. Quite quiet. Too quite for the too many questions in my mind. Or destination: Rayak. A small town at about 10 kilometers from Zahle. We’re visiting Abdallah family. A family of physicians. Four brothers. Three of them graduated from medical school in Romania, as Dr. Nabil Outa did.

Dr Nabil is a small man, a moderate sunni. He and his wife are fasting. As he switches on the radio and settles on an Arabic music station which plays lots of habibi songs – that’s what I could make of Arabic so far - he asks me if I like Arabic music and without waiting for the answer he begins to tell me about the nice things a foreigner can find in the mountain resorts. He goes on and on in perfect Romanian about the slopes in the winter and the Saudi people who come to spend their holidays in the mountains of Lebanon. I can’t take my eyes off the window and I would have filmed everything if my camera wasn’t such a piece of sh…t.

This time Dr Nabil doesn’t talk politics. He usually tells me his worries and all his expectations. He lives in southern Beirut, although he’s a sunni. He and his wife are French Citizens too. They left during the 2006 war and they stayed for a few months in Lyon. The woman keeps mentioning “Fransa” and keeps comparing everything to it. Dr. Nabil was not impressed by France. He got bored there. He wanted to go back to his office in Corniche Mazraa. And that’s what he did. When they came back in September 2006 they found a note in the door of their apartment. The Hezbollah was offering them 300 $ to repair their house after the bombing. Dr. Nabil was very upset with Hezbollah at the time. Other people in the neighborhood had got more money.
On our way to Bekaa, Dr. Nabil didn’t ask me about the rumors I hear from fellow journalists. Nor about what I think of the politics, as he usually does. He shows me the highest bridge in the Middle East, “which was bombed and destroyed by Israel in 2006”. He told me to keep the camera out of the soldier’s sight. Not that I didn’t already know. Once we pass the military checkpoint, the air begins to feel dry and hot. I’d love to stop in one of the villages. But no can do says Dr. Nabil. We need to hurry cause Dr. Mohammed Abdallah is waiting. We take a detour through Zahle though. He can’t miss telling me that 20 of the doctors in the Zahle hospital went to school in Romaia and are part of his 1500 people association of former students in Romania who keep sending their children to study in the same country. Zahle looks different from the other city we passed through, Chtaura. Zahle is mostly Christian and the hill looks like a cluster of yellowish houses. Clean, ordered and beautiful. Disciplined.

We drive through very fast and we continue our way to Rayak. The hospital of the Abdallah brothers seems huge. Until we find the entrance in the residential complex where the four brothers live. Very similar to the presidential palace in Bucharest. Four huge orange houses, in a huge clean park with lawn, flowers and a swimming pool where a bunch of kids splash and laugh. Dr. Nabil had never been there before. His wife mentions Fransa again. They’re trying to act normal, but they seem overwhelmed. We ring the bell of a huge wooden door and a Indonesian maid opens it and invites us in a room which seem more of a museum than a living room. A collection of old Wild West guns, Louis XV like furniture, a beautiful stylish lady of the house, Persian carpets and a huge plasma TV where we could see outside the front door. The lady of the house and her elder son, a 18 year old who’s just been admitted to the second best university in Lebanon and is disappointed it is not the most expensive, invite us to sit down. Dr Nabil explains my presence quickly and then we leave to the hospital. The wives remain in the house. I’m obviously treated as something between a man and a woman. The camera and the tripod seemed to impress as much as that.

Rayak Hospital was a huge building, extremely well furnished as far as medical equipment is concerned. I had to wear special equipment to film in certain areas. And I’ve been able to film in the hospital prison. A detainee was in a coma, probably after an “accident”. The other seemed a very merry guy willing to have long conversation about how “perfect” everything was and how he got there because of a stupid person who went to the American Embassy to renew the false American passport he had forged. He had got 7 years for that. But everything was “tamam”, meaning perfect. The policemen guarding the two cells were having lots of fun with this particular guy.

We met Dr. Mohammen Abdallah in his office. His Romanian was not that good anymore. I had to shout the questions and rephrase them in very simple words. He still keeps his Medical School manual in the office. Now he wants to go to Romania and build a hospital there. He wants to see his old friends from school and mushy stuff like that. And then we headed back to the house for the Ifar, the Ramadan dinner. An amazing experience and a whole different story.

MISSED ME?

I've neglected this blog for a couple of weeks because I started blogging in Romanian and it kinda caught me. You know, explaining in Romanian what living in Lebanon and adjusting here means to a journalist my age. It turned out nice, but it needs lots of work and it's taking quite some time to update.
The last couple of weeks have been more active than my first days here. I filmed a report at the Lebanese Red Cross, a center in Dahieh, the widely feared Hezbollah stronghold. It felt quite normal to me, but, hey, that's just my opinion. Rana, a journalist friend of mine, was amazed. “You went there? In your first week here? I don’t have the courage to go there so easily.” Well, Romania is not that important and I'm not that BBC star reporter to be watched very closely. And speaking about BBC, one of the reporters who had been to Beirut wrote and e-mail to me saying I should be careful in the Red Cross Center in Dahyieh because it had been threatened by a terrorist group. Thanks, Steve. Apparently it was not the same center.


The story with the volunteers in Mreygeh center in Dayieh turned out really nice. Of course, it needed more filming. It took me three weeks to get the approval from the Central Headquarters. The Press Office Chief called me and asked me for a meeting in order to "discuss" my project. Ok, fine. I went. He kept me there for an hour or so, asked me questions about who I work for and what exactly I want to do and then showed me his own work - pictures of the war in 2006. Pretty nice pictures. And at the end he told me that I have the permission to film in the ambulance, the ambulance in the street and pretty much all. And of course the interviews and inside the Center. Somebody should have called me in a couple of days. That was a week ago. Actually, it seems to me like ages ago. Nobody called. So I sent back home the footage I already got from the Mreygeh center.

It was pretty wonderful. I really loved filming that story and talking to those young people. I come from Romania, where 20 year old kids don't think about volunteering in the Red Cross. Far from them the thought of doing anything like it. Clubs, dancing, music and that's pretty much all the youth in Romania think about.

I met here, in Beirut, a bunch of kids who dug people from ruins of the houses bombed in the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. Houssein, one of them, had asthma. But he went to Qana, in southern Lebanon to help people. He found his own pictures all over the internet two years ago. And he still has them on his computer. One of the pictures was of his house. “I went there to take a shower and I came back to the center. And the next morning my house wasn’t there anymore. It was bombed.”




The other Houssein, a 23 year old fresh engineering school graduate, was 21 during the war. He was in the South in a refugee center. But he had to dig out people trapped under the rubble of the houses bombed in southern Beirut. “We were trying to give them oxygen. But some of them didn’t make it”. I felt like talking to an old person, yet he was just 23. And he was so well acquainted to death and accepted it so easily.

And then there was Bassam Mokdad.




THE Bassam Mokdad. The Red Cross volunteer who was all over Reuters and AP during the war. The volunteer who has been in the Red Cross for 23 years. The guy who spent half and hour separating the body of a mother from the child she had been embracing in the bombardment. And he told me the story so easily and so naturally. As if what he had done was so natural. I think we still have footage in the TV station Archive back home with him among the rubble at Qana.

And after all the struggle and after saving and losing people under the rubble, while hearing the bombs falling, they stayed in the center and tried to have dinner while one of them was playing the guitar. “We had to stay human and still feel we are alive”, Houssein, the 27 year old with asthma, told me while showing me the pictures on his laptop.

The younger Houssein showed me the ambulances. Very well equipped. Oxygen masks, medical kit with everything in it. And of course, helmets and bullet proof vests. A must in Lebanon. And then he showed me where an ambulance was hit by a airplane. An ambulance from Zahle, a Christian town in Bekaa Valley. “ We had painted the cross on the top of the ambulance, so that they could see it clearly from the helicopter or the planes. But they bombed it. And they hit right in the middles of the Red Cross. It was on purpose, you see. A volunteer died and 7 were wounded”.