Operating in Beirut: Part 1
By Georges Tabet
Beirut Lebanon was once called the Paris of the Middle East, it was a beautiful city that had culture, incredible hotels a fabulous night life and pristine white sandy beaches, but the start of a bloody 15 year civil war, that took the lives of an estimated 130000 changed this cultured and peaceful country into the wild west of the Middle East.
When the fighting ended in the spring of 1991, the country had transformed itself into a divided nation, a nation that during the hostile years had nurtured a number of groups
That had risen into powerful politically charged armed groups with names like Hezbollah, Amal (the Lebanese Resistance Detachments) and the Syrian Socialist National Party. Many of these groups are hostile towards westerners and are backed by hostile nations such as Iran and Syria.
Any protection specialist worth their salt and who has operated in Beirut after the civil war fully understands that the city and country can stay quite and non threatening for extended periods of time and then without a moments notice or escalating build up can suddenly explode into a hostile situation.