Visiting Hezbollah HQ

Deep in the mountains of formerly occupied southern Lebanon lies Mleeta, once a stronghold for Hezbollah guerrillas, today a tour de force in museum architecture and propaganda.

Sunshine bathed the rocky southern Lebanese hills as an aging blue-green Mercedes taxi took us through several small Shia towns on the way into the countryside. Many of these small towns display posters and banners along the roadside or in their town squares, showing pictures of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other political figures and martyrs past and present from both Hezbollah and its political ally Amal. The unmistakeable yellow and green flag of Hezbollah flies everywhere here. Once the car had passed through the town of Mleeta itself, and continued up the mountainside for a few more kilometres, the $25 million spectacular that is the ‘Mleeta Resistance Tourist Landmark’ appeared, sitting on the crest of a hill overlooking the valley.

Hezbollah is officially classified as a terrorist organisation in many Western countries, including, significantly and not surprisingly, the United States and Britain. The truth is far less black and white, although entirely subjective. But to cut a long story extremely short, they are a Shia Muslim political party and militant group formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, which at the time extended all the way to and included Beirut, to tragic consequences. They carried out military operations and guerrilla warfare against the Israeli occupying forces until these withdrew in 2000. They now have a huge influence in Lebanese politics, holding positions in the government and with a very strong military presence in the south. Controversial for their extremely staunch anti-Israel stance, military tactics and alleged financial backing from Iran and Syria, they nevertheless enjoy no shortage of support among many communities within Lebanon due to their ability to defend the country from what many see as unjust and overly aggressive Israeli attacks, something the Lebanese Army is not always able to do. This is an attempt at a neutral presentation of a very complicated situation and any mistakes or omissions are entirely my own.

The museum at Mleeta is quite unlike any other. Built on territory from which Hezbollah fighters based their resistance efforts against occupying Israeli forces in southern Lebanon until 2000, the hillside has since been bankrolled into a first-class museum. A team of top architects worked on the museum’s design. The result is in turns impressive, surreal, bizarre and grotesque. A centrepiece named ‘The Abyss’, a huge collection of captured and destroyed Israeli tanks, artillery, jeeps and even soldiers’ helmets, is set up in a meticulously designed arrangement encircled by a walkway symbolising, in the words of the guide, the ‘tornado’ that the occupying forces found themselves caught in. The piece de resistance is a Merkava 4 tank -the pride of the Israeli army - half buried in the ground with its turret tied in a knot. ‘We have no problems with any other groups or religions, and have Christian visitors, Sunni visitors, everyone’ continued the guide. ‘The only time we have a problem is if somebody wants to occupy our land’. 

As well as The Abyss, we watched a 10-minute film in an large theatre which documented the history of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict. Including images of attacks by both sides, accompanied by Nasrallah’s powerful speeches and a dramatic score, this was a full-on propaganda broadside. We then took a walk amongst the trees and plants of the hillside, where there were several exhibits on guerrilla warfare; models of soldiers which contributed to an eerie atmosphere as they appeared through the trees; and a 200-metre long underground tunnel including a number of bunkers. The tunnel opened out onto a spectacular view over the countryside and surrounding villages. At the end you arrive at a small bunker where 'Hizbu Allah' (Party of God) is sprayed onto the outside wall. An anti-aircraft gun still stands on the inside.

On the way towards the exit, the Hezbollah experience can be completed by picking up a souvenir or two from the gift shop – a flag, a history book, or a child’s baseball cap printed with a picture of a smiling Nasrallah together with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Classes of schoolchildren ran around us, enjoying their day out. They were Muslim children - I doubt schools in Christian areas would bring their classes here - but was their trip education or instruction? I think the line at Mleeta is a fine one.

Far-Off Noises

Two weeks ago I was woken during the night by a call from a friend. 'What are you doing?' he asked.
'Sleeping'.
'Okay. Stay at home tonight, we can hear gunshots and rockets from our balcony'.

I'll admit that this is perhaps an overly melodramatic way to begin a post which will now attempt to make reassurances about the current situation in Beirut. The gunshots in question were a reaction to an escalation of some unrest in Tripoli, the northern Sunni-dominated city that welcomed us so warmly when we visited at the beginning of March. During the last month or so, there have been a number of clashes between two different Sunni factions in the area. This is actually not an unusual occurrence, but many commentators are suggesting that it is a sign of the catastrophic Syrian conflict spilling over into Lebanon, as one of these groups supports the Syrian government and the other is against it.

The unrest escalated on Sunday May 20th, when two Shaykhs from the anti-Syrian group ostensibly drove through a military checkpoint (of which there are many placed on main roads throughout the country). They were both shot dead by the checkpoint guards, provoking outrage in Tripoli and accusations of Lebanese government support for the Syrian regime. The anger spread to the district of Tariq al-Jdideh in southern Beirut, where three people are thought to have been killed as tyres were burned and shots fired. The sound carried to my friend's apartment but not to mine, far away in the quiet Armenian section of East Beirut.

The following day a 'No War in Lebanon' demonstration was held on Martyrs Square at the heart of the city. No more than around two hundred people showed up, half of them foreigners. Apathy and pessimism, or just calm from a people who have seen far, far worse?

In the nearly two weeks since the first and only unrest in Beirut since the Arab Spring, no other tangible signs of trouble have been reported. The 'no news, good news' signs so far are positive, suggesting that further escalation is unlikely. Having had the pleasure of getting to know Lebanon and learning something about its people (and I do mean the whole country), anything else would be a tragedy.

After the phone call, I briefly listened through the window, then rolled over and went back to sleep. There was no reason to do anything else. Armenia Street is as safe as any place in Aarhus, Brighton or Sudbury, and will remain so for the rest of my time here and beyond.

Girls Football Academy

Deep inside the Bourj al-Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp, the evening sun glows through the wire fence from behind a mosque and the ramshackle houses, piled up like scruffy lego. The Girls Football Academy, Lebanon's first all-female football club, are well underway with their evening training session at Ansar football ground, a decent facility with a full-sized astroturf pitch and no shortage of equipment.

Sent to the southern suburbs on an assignment for TimeOut magazine, I arrived and introduced myself to Walid, a former semi-pro in France and co-founder along with his girlfriend and first team player Nadia. Both were welcoming and enthusiastic about their club, which, in its first season since being formed last Autumn, has already shot to the upper reaches of the national league. Although it only contains 8 teams, Lebanon's progressive women's league is the only one of its kind in the Middle East. 'The senior team's results are just a bonus though', Walid said as he returned a stray ball to a game of piggy-in-the-middle. 'The point of the academy is team building. The senior players have to be taught the technical side of the game from scratch, many of them have never played 11-a-side before. Our target is to train girls to play as a team from a younger age, so that one day they will play for their country and defend the colours of Lebanon'.

A few youngsters took a break from their training to speak to me. 'Kifik?' ('How are you?') I asked one small girl. 'Good' she replied shyly, before switching to flawless American English and explaining excitedly how she started playing football with her big brother at the age of three (her current age: 'nine and a half'), and now gets to play three times a week, and it doesn't make her tired even though she has school too. Sophie, the captain of the U14s, said 'I get the feeling you're a Newcastle fan' and looked slightly disappointed when I admitted I didn't share her affection for her favourite Premier League team. She soon forgot this though as she proudly told me about how she was selected to be captain because the coach thought she had 'experience and skill'.

Girls come from relatively long distances to play at the academy in spite of its out-of-the-way location near to Beirut Airport. One lives close to me in the Armenian quarter, another in the city of Jounieh an hour north of the capital. 'What is the mix of religious background?' I asked Walid. 'I honestly couldn't tell you' he answered. 'I've never asked anyone, it's not something that is ever relevant here'.

In a time when elite professional football is characterised by obscenely rich owners, cheating players and idiotic, small-minded fan culture, the beautiful game remains great for its ability to unite different people anywhere in the world. When one day the young players from the Girls Football Academy do defend their country's colours, maybe their country will unite behind them.


Pictures from GFA's league fixture against reigning champions Al-Sadaka, Sunday 13th May. Final score: 0-0.

Migrant Workers' March

You see them everywhere, yet you never really see them. In a country of many groups, minorities and interests, all vying for influence and fair conditions, Lebanon's forgotten minority is its migrant workers. All Lebanese citizens are ethnically Arab or Armenian (due to an influx of refugees from Turkey at the start of the 20th century). But the country's residents are not so homogeneous. Employed as construction workers, refuse collectors, nannies, maids and in a range of other unskilled capacities, migrant workers have steadily flowed into the country in recent years, bulking out the working classes in and around central Beirut as the locals prosper.

In order to gain a working visa, these migrants must first obtain a 'sponsorship' from their would-be employer. Working visas can cost thousands of dollars and sponsorships are non-transferable. In other words, once your host employer has 'bought' you, you are stuck with them. This can result in appalling working and living conditions and terrible pay, which drives many foreign workers to the brink - stories of deaths caused by both suicide and accidents are common.

On 29th April, migrant workers had the chance to be noticed for a change. Staging a peaceful demonstration, a colourful crowd from Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, The Phillippines, India, Kenya, Nepal, DR Congo, and a host of others marched across town. That morning, walking through town to join the demonstration, I passed a refuse collector of South Asian origin, quietly going about his work on a bridge. Fortunately, plenty of people did have Sunday off and there was a party atmosphere, with African drumming and dancing accompanying Asian chanting, and banners and t-shirts proclaiming 'Proud to Be An African' or 'I Love Nepal'.

As the crowd progressed along some of East Beirut's main streets it grew in size. Crossing back across the bridge in the other direction, the refuse collector was nowhere to be seen. Onlookers, Lebanese and otherwise, looked on and cheered. The final destination of the march was the courtyard outside the large St. Joseph's church. On arrival, the pace and volume of the drumming intensified and impromptu dancing broke out.

There followed a concert of traditional and less traditional dancing and music. The standard varied wildly, including a superb display of Ethiopian dancing, presumably the original inspiration for robot-dancers everywhere, to a solo by a little Indian girl, a Phillippino choir singing Michael Jackson and a bizarre miming of a Sean Paul song.

The overall theme of the day seemed to be unification, with different cultures and people uniting behind one message while showing their individuality at the same time. It was a convincing case. There is no reason why a well-developed and educated country like Lebanon, regardless of its other problems, cannot treat its migrant workers like human beings.