Lebanon: the war of 2006

Basic information

Background and course of the war
(Wikipedia)

Lebanon Updates
Hour by hour chronology of the war

Maps of Israeli bombing in Lebanon

Legal aspects of the war
Human Rights Watch

Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure
Amnesty International report, 10 August 2006

Climbing out of the abyss
International Crisis Group report, 25 July 2006

Electronic Lebanon

Shebaa Farms
Background to the dispute (Wikipedia). See also article (Guardian Unlimited, 10 May 2006)


Documents

Implementation of resolution 1701
Report by UN secretary-general, June 2007

Implementation of resolution 1701
Report by UN secretary-general, March 2007

Security Council Resolution 1701
11 Aug 2006, regarding conflict between Israel and Hizbullah. Background: Wikipedia

The seven-point plan
Proposed by Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora on 3 August 2006

Security Council Resolution 1697
31 Jul 2006. Background: Wikipedia

Hassan Nasrallah's interview with al-Jazeera
July 20, 2006

Speech by Hassan Nasrallah
August 3, 2006

Speech by Hassan Nasrallah
July 31, 2006

Speech by Hassan Nasrallah
July 14, 2006

More documents relating to Lebanon are here.


Articles

Israel must pay
Comment Is Free, August 23, 2006

Lebanon is entitled to compensation for the devastation Israel has wrought.

Resolutions and irresolution
Comment Is Free, August 18, 2006

UN resolution 1559 calls for the independence of Lebanon from all outside interference - that means Israel too.

Reconstruction alone estimated at $7bn in Lebanon
Guardian, August 16 2006

With the tenuous ceasefire still holding, Lebanese government ministers met yesterday to begin the laborious process of estimating civilian damage caused by a month of Israeli bombing.

Beirut bombarded hours before start of ceasefire
Guardian, August 14 2006

Hours before a UN-brokered truce was due to take effect, Israeli forces pressed on with their offensive yesterday, battling with Hizbullah guerrillas in southern Lebanon and launching an unprecedented air strike against the capital, Beirut.

Resistance agrees truce, can it now resist a fight?
Guardian, August 14 2006

Twenty-four hours ahead of the Israeli cabinet's meeting to approve a ceasefire in the four-week-old war with Hizbullah, the Lebanese Shia organisation declared itself ready to abide by a truce, but with conditions.

14 die as bombardment goes on across Lebanon
Guardian, August 12, 2006

Israeli warplanes and artillery continued to bombard Lebanon yesterday, from the southern border to the far north of the country, killing at least 14 people. Hizbullah, meanwhile, said it fired 150 rockets into Israel, although Israeli rescue officials put the total at about 80 ...

War and peace
Comment Is Free, August 11, 2006

An intriguing email arrived the other day. It was headed "Call for peace" ...

Tears for Lebanon
Comment Is Free, August 8, 2006

Arab men are not supposed to cry. That is why Fouad Siniora's tears made such a refreshing change.

Towards a Lebanese solution?
Comment Is Free, August 7, 2006

Talk of an international peacekeeping force as a buffer zone in South Lebanon is misguided. Only the Lebanese themselves can provide a sustainable solution.

Militants merge with mainstream
Guardian, August 5, 2006

Nour, a 19-year-old university student, came with two friends to one of Cairo's biggest squares on Thursday night carrying Lebanese and Hizbullah flags. "This is the first time I ever take part in a protest," she said ...

The world must rein in Israel
Comment Is Free, August 3, 2006

The onslaught on Lebanon is fuelling recruitment to terrorist groups and denials of the Jewish state's right to exist.

A 10-step programme for peace
Comment Is Free, August 1, 2006

The solution to the crisis in Lebanon involves Israel, Hizbullah, Syria, the UN, the EU, Russia and the US as well as Beirut.

Syria stands to gain from Lebanon's pain
Guardian, July 31 2006

Bin Laden's deputy calls for global war on 'crusaders'
Guardian, July 28 2006

Al-Qaida's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, made a dramatic intervention in the Lebanese crisis yesterday with a videotape calling on Muslims everywhere to rise up against Zionists and "crusaders".

Muslims unite in anger over Lebanon
Guardian, July 28 2006

From Egypt to Indonesia there were outpourings of popular anger today against the continued Israeli bombardment of Lebanon - though there is also growing frustration in the Middle East at the apparent impotence of Arab leaders.

The T-shirt seller of Beirut
Guardian Unlimited, July 27 2006

The Phoenicians were the greatest traders of the ancient world and the Lebanese are their descendants. In Lebanon, every situation - no matter how dire - is an opportunity for someone to do business.

UN aid convoy heads to south Lebanon
Guardian, Wednesday July 26, 2006

The first UN relief convoy left Beirut today carrying emergency supplies to the devastated south of Lebanon, but without assurances from Israel that it would not be attacked.

Rice lacks recipe for success
Guardian Unlimited, Tuesday July 25, 2006

There's no denying her stamina. Less than 48 hours after painfully giving birth to a "New Middle East", Condoleezza Rice flew by helicopter into Beirut. At least, I think she did.

Scale of the human crisis emerges
Guardian, Tuesday July 25, 2006

The people of Lebanon are facing their "hour of greatest need", the UN said yesterday in launching an emergency appeal for $150m (£81m) to help an estimated 800,000 civilians whose lives have been disrupted by Israeli bombing of Lebanon.

Unfashionably late to leave
Guardian Unlimited, Monday July 24, 2006

I got to know Karim when I was based in Beirut for a few months last year. He lived nearby and, conveniently for me, he owned a brand new washing machine that his employer had given him as a sort of bonus. Karim (not his real name) was a Syrian who had been working in Beirut for several years ...

Bombs on a Starry Night
Guardian Unlimited, Friday July 21, 2006

I was just finishing work last night and feeling a bit tired when word went round that two British journalists had been kidnapped in central Beirut by Hizbullah. Oh no, I thought. That's all we need now.

Battered Lebanon counts the cost of Israeli onslaught
Guardian, July 21, 2006

The catastrophic scale of destruction inflicted on Lebanon's infrastructure and economy by the Israeli bombardment was becoming apparent yesterday as government officials released details to the Guardian of the damage so far.

Lebanese who fled as youngsters forced to flee again with own children
Guardian, July 20, 2006

Wearing a sweat-soaked vest and beach shorts and clutching a leather briefcase in one hand and a baffled five-year-old in the other, Joe Noujeim cut an odd figure as he walked down the gangplank of a 5,200 tonne British destroyer ...

The daily grind
Guardian Unlimited, July 20, 2006

Itis 8am on a beautiful summer's morning. Outside Cafe Younis, half a dozen men are sipping coffee and reading newspapers under the shade of the trees. Fifteen minutes later, somewhere not very far away, a bomb hits Beirut, but nobody flinches or even glances up from his newspaper. The Lebanese are accustomed to it.

Massive evacuation gathers pace
Guardian, July 19, 2006

Thousands of Lebanese nationals and western expats were scrambling to leave the country yesterday as Israel's week-long bombardment of Lebanon continued.

Relief as first group of Britons taken to Cyprus on Royal Navy warship
Guardian, July 19, 2006

British evacuees exchanged the perils of Beirut for the rough comforts of below decks on a Royal Navy destroyer last night ...

Mass evacuation from Beirut under way
Guardian, July 18, 2006

A mass evacuation of British, American and other foreign nationals from Beirut was under way today as Israel continued its bombardment of Lebanon.

Two sides of the war
Comment Is Free, July 17, 2006

Viewed from Lebanon, the TV coverage of destruction in Israel seems wildly out of proportion compared with what is happening across the border.

A competent military force that should not be underestimated, experts say
Guardian, July 17, 2006

Hizbullah will not only take war to Haifa, but "beyond Haifa, and beyond beyond Haifa", its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said in a televised speech last week - and some experts are prepared to believe him ...

As the bombs rain down, a refugee crisis unfolds on the streets of Beirut
Guardian, July 17, 2006

Lebanon was on the brink of a humanitarian crisis yesterday as Israeli forces continued their bombardment and thousands of Shia Muslims either fled their homes or found themselves trapped.

Rescue of Britons depends on ceasefire, FO says
Guardian, July 17, 2006

As the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious and the assault ship HMS Bulwark headed towards the eastern Mediterranean, the advice from the Foreign Office to the estimated 10,000 Britons in Lebanon last night was to stay put.

A new war, but both sides recall old ones
Guardian, July 15, 2006

The three Syrian guest-workers arrived before dawn yesterday, as they did every morning, to set up their coffee stall beneath the flyover, hoping to catch the breakfast trade from early risers in the southern suburbs of Beirut. That was when the bomb blew them away, along with a large section of the road above their heads. Nobody seemed to remember their names ...

Blundering into Lebanon
Comment Is Free, July 14, 2006

Ehud Olmert has made some serious mistakes in his cross-border attacks.

Borderline beneficiaries
Comment Is Free, July 12, 2006

Israel's UN resolution-breaching incursion strengthens the hands of the Lebanese government's enemies.

Flashpoint farmland
Guardian Unlimited, Wednesday May 10 2006

The Lebanese prime minister, Fuad Siniora, has just ended a three-day visit to London that included talks with Tony Blair. Among other things, Mr Siniora was seeking Britain's help over the obscure but thorny issue of the Shebaa Farms, a contentious bit of territory where the borders of Lebanon, Syria and Israel meet.