Pictures from Lebanon

Have received this email from a Lebanese friend:

Last night , 60 raids were executed all over Lebanon , from Tripoli in the north to Baalback in the East ,and in Beirut. Since Thursday 197 civilians were killed and 35o injured according to the health ministry , but this can not be a finel account since whole villages and cities are completely cut off , there' s no way to reach them or know wht's happening there. Now what happened in the south last night seems to be outrageous . People are fleeing in masses , there are humongous traffic jams in Saida , caused by hundreds of people fleeing to Beirut through the South. Those people have nowhere to go in here , and that's way they hadn't left their villages so far. This morning, the streets of beirut were full with families carrying plastic bags in whivh they packed their belongings , or what's left of them. Appartement buildings in beirut are either full or over priced. People took in relatives and friends in their houses . Now all this is fine, it's war , killing destroying , moving people , cutting off cities , destroying infrastructure , it's classical. But , please , take a minute and look at any of these pictures in a different way. Some countries said they will help lebanon's reconstruction (thanks) . Saudi Arabia said it will give 50 milion $ in aid. A small calculation of the difference in oil prices between last Wednesday and today will show how generous this offer is , especially that the Saudis political stand almost gave the israelis a green light to go on. Anyway , that was not my point . The point is , if you take a real look at the pictures , you will see: a house , a car , a shop... Destroyed ones. But , 6 days ago , they were somebody's car , shop , and house. Inside the houses were toys for children , books and music. All gone, and no one will pay for it. The shops are all what these people own. The harbour that was burnt last night , contained goods someone had paid for. People will go bankrupt. Did I mention that the targeted areas are the poorer in Lebanon? Oh yeah , and I forgot to mention all the people who died.

I only put one picture here (it shows destroyed homes in the Beirut suburb of Safir, I think), the rest of them are on Flickr. Be warned, some of them are extremely graphic and show burnt and mutilated bodies.