My friend Hanady Salman (an editor at As-Safir newspaper in Beirut) wrote this in her Beirut journal:
"It’s the eighth day. It all started last Wednesday. It seems ages ago. I didn’t sleep last night. Not because of the bombing, although my flat was shaking every time they bombed. They always start their air raids on Beirut around 1:00 am. To the other regions, they offer 24\7 services. “Sleepless in Beirut”, thinking about tomorrow. Not the next morning, that is. The Tomorrow. Houses turned into rubbles, burnt bodies, families in the streets, embargoed cities and villages, people pleading for food and water … and the Electricite du Liban company sending its people to collect bills! What would Tomorrow look like? What is this happening for? They say they want to extract terrorism. Why? Would terrorism do more than what they’re doing? On my way to work, in the nearby public park , I saw Nour, a four year old open-heart patient , who fled with her parents the Ouzai area, south of Beirut. Her father wants to stay in an open-door area, he’s afraid the “over-populated” public schools won’t be suitable for a child with a heart condition. “I’m having fun here “, she says, smiling to the camera, “we’re playing all the time and no one is giving us orders.” Moussa, the guard outside the newspaper building was crying. His family had just called from their village Mayss el Jabal in the south. His wife told him she couldn’t find food for their children. Up to the sixth floor. Bahia, my dear friend and colleague , who left her house in Hadath two days ago, was on the phone. Someone was telling her that her house does not exist anymore. She had tears in her eyes when she said “ at least the kids are safe”. In my office, the France Press news agency confirms that the four trucks that were bombed yesterday on the Lebanon – Syria road contained food and medicine sent by Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Reuters reports about Sel’a , a village in the south that was bombed overnight. It says 5 of ten bodies buried under the rubbles of an apartment building were found, and they’re still looking for the rest. They’re all the members of one family. Well , at least no one will miss them. Shall I go on? It’s still 11:00 am and I have to go see what happened in Ashrafieh, the Christian neighborhood in Beirut they just bombed."