Hi,
I am about to travel to Lebanon, and read the news that there was a gunfire battle in Beirut on last Tue (hopefully not spoiling your travelling moods as mine). Is anyone out there knowing the latest situation ? Just want to get a handle on this. I know from the news that the security has been further strengthened and there were some demonstrations .
thanks
Hi,
I was there last Nov, when there were warnings.
I would not worry too much!
More worisome are Muslim holidays.
Then the place gets congested and prices rise.
Avoid those.
cyafa.... Welcome to Thorn Tree. As you say: the security has been further strengthened . Are you referring to Hizballah having put 20,000 plus, of its army on a high alert? This could be in preparation, of a pre emptive strike on Israel. That has been the Iranian backed forces response, to the peace talks in Washington.
Hi Cyafa
The incident happened on the evening I arrived in Beirut for a short holiday (Tuesday Aug 24th). It was a little worrying to see on the news that there was the first trouble in Beirut for two years, but in practice caused me only one minor problem. One of the things I did was the excellent and highly recommended "Walk Beirut" walking tour (www.bebeirut.org) and the last 5 stops on this were cancelled as they were close to the area where the incident happened and there was "a lot of security" in the area. Having said Ronnie the tour leader fully expected to be including them again on last Saturday's tour.
I had a great time in Beirut and I'm sure you will too. Its worth keeping an eye on the local news as instability can always develop in Lebanon. You'll see quite a lot of security and a few tanks on street corners, but in general its a very safe destination and I found it really interesting and enjoyable
Nick