Everytime there’s a gun-battle or an explosion in Lebanon, there are innocent people,who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, that get killed in the process. 16-year old Ali al-Sharaband found himself in the middle of the gun-battle that erupted between Hezbollah and Ahmad Al-Assir supporters and was killed after being shot in the head.

I have a picture of him lying dead on the ground, but it’s VERY graphic, so don’t click on the link if you can’t handle it. [Picture]

In early August 2012, a fire devastated the garage where Atilla lived as a guard dog. Chained, Attila, could not escape.

Lebanon needs to enact laws promoting animal rights and making their abuse illegal. After all, animal welfare is an international concern and is as important as other matters.

In Beirut, Lebanon animal neglect and abuse is a tragic part of daily life. With no formal system of training, rescue, and protection, urgent assistance from ordinary citizens is commonplace. The volunteers of Animals Pride and Freedom Lebanon receive and respond to urgent phone calls and messages concerning lost, abused, and injured pets and wildlife twenty-four hours a day, whether they are needed to search for an injured cat in Mansourieh, provide foster care for abandoned puppies found in Baabda Forest, or transport a bird that has been shot in Hazmieh.

Animals Pride and Freedom Lebanon volunteers, like Lebanese University Agriculture and Veterinary Science student, Shant Panossian, participate in many grassroots initiatives such as overnight rescue sweeps in various towns, picking-up stray dogs at-risk of further cruelty, and providing needed medical care. “These rescue efforts are the best,” Shant says. “I come back home exhausted, but I feel very happy for saving these dogs.”

“I try my best to help find homes for animals,” Shant says of his efforts to combat animal abuse and neglect which includes finding a permanent home for Attila, a two-year-old male Husky-Collie Mix. “We desperately need a home for Attila,” Shant says. “We hope to find him a nice home outside Lebanon.” [Source]

Shamed CIA boss David Petraeus (from left) with Scott Kelley and Kelley’s wife, Jill, with Petraeus’ wife, Holly, in Tampa. [Source]

I wish we’d see more mentions of Lebanese and Lebanon in positive events, not scandalous, violent and illegal incidents.

It was a married Florida woman who blew the lid off the scandalous affair that led retired Gen. David Petraeus to resign as CIA chief when she told the FBI of allegedly threatening e-mails she’d received from his lover, sources said yesterday.

Jill Kelley, 37, of Tampa — a “social liaison” to the powerful Joint Special Operations Command — reported the jealous messages from Petraeus biographer Paula Broadwell, who is accused of sleeping with the married four-star general, to the FBI, sources said. The married Broadwell, 40, told Kelley to “back off,” “stay away from my guy,” and warned, “I know what you did,” sources have told The Post.

Kelley and her twin sister, Natalie, are the youngest of four kids of Lebanese immigrants, Marcelle and John Khawam. [Link]

We have to wait and see now whether Jill was also Petraeus’ lover and not just a friend he sees very often.

[YouTube] Raw Footage posted on LBC

Schools and shops closed today as Saida mourned the killing of three people during the armed clashes yesterday night. [Story]

Source

“For social scientists, for civil society at large, these few buildings represent the evidence of how ugly we were,” said Abdul-Halim Jabr, a Beirut-based architect and urban design consultant. “And a kind of lightning rod for some kind of truth and reconciliation.”

More than 30 years have passed since The Battle of the Hotels in Beirut, yet the heavily damaged Holiday Inn stands alone to remind us of the ugly Lebanese civil-war that resulted in the death of over 100,000 Lebanese. While other ravaged building are being restored, such as Beit Beirut (also known as Beit Barakat), any plans for restoring the Holiday Inn remain shrouded in uncertainty.

Aerial view of the Holiday Inn in 1974, courtesy of the Ministry of Tourism

The reason why I remembered the Holiday Inn is because of an article published on the National today on Beirut’s most famous bullet-scarred building and the future that awaits it. I posted few excerpts below but I recommend that you read the whole thing [Here].

I think it should be restored as a fully functional hotel that would include a cultural center and a Museum for the Memory of the War.

Christian gunmen in the Holiday Inn [Source]

Last month, the US$20million (Dh73.4m) Beit Beirut project to restore the venerated structure was officially kicked off by the city’s municipality, with the hope of opening by the end of 2014.

Not far across town, another empty, concrete shell looms over the city’s downtown, standing out near new developments in the prime real-estate district. The drab edifice – a relic of the early years of the civil war – is still known simply as the Holiday Inn, though it has not seen a paying guest in more than three decades. It remains a hulking reminder of the Battle of the Hotels during the civil war that left more than 100,000 Lebanese dead.

“The Holiday Inn cannot just be erased. Seeing it prevents people from getting rid of what they want to forget [about the civil war],” said Sara Fregonese, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of London who has been studying the building as part of her research on the impact of conflict on urban life in Lebanon. [TheNational]

Thank you Sana!

Mezaziq Middle Eastern restaurant

It seems the boycott that Restaurant owners have asked for last week is not just for Lebanon, or at least that’s how Mezaziq Lebanese managers understood it.

MANAGERS of a Lebanese restaurant who persistently allowed customers to smoke shisha have been evicted from the premises.

In spite of warnings from the police and environmental health officers, Mezaziq, in Brackenbury Road, Hammersmith, let its customers flout the smoking ban and use shisha pipes in the basements.

Following pressure from the council and the police, the landlords evicted their tenants and the restaurant closed.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council leader for transport and technical services, Councillor Victoria Brocklebank-Fowler, said: “Mezaziq has been evicted by the owner of the building following considerable pressure from the council. “This illegal shisha café has consistently flouted the law by allowing shisha to be smoked inside the premises and residents have also complained about noise and antisocial behaviour. [Full Story]

Via Mustapha

Setting the bar really high

I am sure what Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said was yet another slip of the tongue, as the army can’t fire at people just for holding guns, but that made me think if we have any statistics on how many Lebanese have guns at home or in their car or even carry them at all time.

The only article I found on this issue was one by Addiyar claiming that there are 200,000 firearms licenses given to civilians in Lebanon, but it’s probably an exaggerated number coming from that source. Nevertheless, even if the licenses are 4 times less than that, it’s still a scary number.

[High-Res]

The list is official and contains over 100 names, with the overwhelming majority coming from International Pharma Group. You can check out the full list [Here].

[YouTube]
LBC Report

According to official reports, there are three companies involved in the illegal import of medications scandal which are New All Pharma, City Pharma and International Pharma Group. These companies are accused of bringing in over 100 types of medications illegally and distributing them to pharmacies and hospitals over the past 10 months. Health Minister Hasan Khalil issued a decision few days ago to withdraw the illegal drugs from the market, but the question remains whether any patient had died or had complications from taking those medications.

New All Pharma issued a statement denying those allegations on their website

Roland Saade, Faysal El Khalil, Dory Hitti, Edward Maalouf, Mary El Aam, Maha El Shaer and Mickey Chibli participated in this year’s edition of the Beirut Marathon in order to raise money for the victims of the bombing that shook Achrafieh few weeks back, killing General Wissam Al Hassan, Ahmad Sahyouni and Georgette Sarkissian. [RunForAchrafieh]

They were able to collected an impressive 240,000$, which will be donated to reviving Achrafieh and helping the families.

A great initiative from all 7 runners and the Beirut Marathon association.

AP Picture taken from WeAreLebanon

Over 33,000 runners defied today the bad weather to take part in the 9th edition of 2012 Beirut Marathon. Ethiopian runner Kadir Pecaro won the 42.195 Km race while “Hussein Awada was the first Lebanese to finish the same race with a time of 2 hours and 28 minutes” [Naharnet].

Picture taken from WeAreLebanon

Picture from the DailyStar: British ambassador Tom Fletcher participating in the marathon

Picture from the DailyStar: 150 political, diplomatic, media, and social figures, including first lady Wafaa Suleiman attended the event.

Picture from BeirutMarathon: Ethiopian participants cheering.

Picture from BeirutMarathon: 42k special needs race at the starting line.

Edward Maalouf always up for the challenge

Red Cross volunteers joining the race

Beirut Marathon association provided rain coats at cheap prices for all participants

For more pictures, you can check out BeirutMarathon [Facebook page] and [Website] and The DailyStar [Website].

[YouTube]

Tannoura Maxi (Heels Of War) clinched two awards at the Monaco Charity Film Festival Awards 2012, Best Actress for Joy Karam and Most Promising Director (1st time Director) for Joe Bou Eid. The movie was also awarded “The Talent to Watch Award” at The Seventeenth Annual Arabian Sights Film Festival.

I still think the movie wasn’t that good, yet should not have been banned or censored by any means, but nevertheless congratulations to Joe Bou Eid and Joy Karam.

On a side note, I’d like to ask LBCI to correct the information posted on their website because there’s a big difference between the Cannes International Film Festival and the Monaco Charity Film Festival. Added to that, The Award “Tannoura Maxi” won at the Seventeenth Annual Arabian Sights Film Festival, not the Washington DC International Film Festival, was “Talent to watch Award” not the most innovative film award.

Tannoura Maxi won two awards at the Cannes International Film Festival and an Award for the most innovative film at the Washington DC International Film Festival. It turns out that what was rejected by the Lebanese community was greatly admired at the most prestigious international festivals. [LBCI]

I always used to pass by Sweet Tea at the Beirut Souks but had no clue it had a green rooftop terrace until lately. As you can see in the picture, there are green vine plants all over the walls with a glass-roof on top and colorful tables and chairs, making it a gorgeous outdoor seating. Sweet Tea is the perfect place to have breakfast, brunch or lunch, with a large variety of French Desserts, different types of omelettes and a large selection of tea. I had the “Omelettes aux herbes fraiches” and a Baba au Rhum (My Favorite Dessert) and both were delicious.

Sweet Tea is a concept imagined and designed by Yannick Alléno.

The terrace overlooks the Beirut Souks and nearby Beirut streets and buildings. You can also see the rooftop terrace of S.T.A.Y (Simple Table Alléno Yannick), another concept by the guy behind Sweet Tea, which I am planning to visit soon.

Sweet Tea is located in the Jewelry souk of Beirut Souks’ right next to George Hakim. For more information, check out Beirut Souks’s website [Here] and Sweet Tea’s Facebook page [Here].

The Lebanese Jewish Community added on their Facebook Group old pictures of weddings and Bar Mitzvah ceremonies that were held at Beirut’s Maghen Abraham Synagogue.

Here are few selected pictures of the synagogue that has been almost fully renovated.

The Lebanese National Football team will play a decisive World Cup Qualifying game against Qatar on November 14 at 4:45pm at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha. Lebanon needs to come back with 3 points in order to keep its chances in the final round of World Cup Qualification alive. Looking at the FIFA rankings, Lebanon is ranked 112 while Qatar is 104, which means the game should be a close one.

The game will be broadcasted on Al-Jazeera Sports (not sure which one though).

[YouTube]
Lebanese striker Mohammad Ghaddar, member of the National team, scoring a great goal for his team Kelantan in the Malaysian league