Causalities or Casual sonorities

It was around 7 30 pm when the glass windows of the cafe shook. I was sitting with 3 friends, Lamia, Karim and Youssef drinking rosé wine (the white wine is very bad in this specific café, and red wine was too warm for the weather, even though perfect for the situation) and ironically talking about the early morning bombs and if anyone of us woke up because of the sound. Yesterday night I got too drunk and I slept too deeply to notice anything, even though the sound was apparently very loud. This time it was different we knew it was too loud to be the Suburbs. There was music and the noise of the crowd in the cafe and still we heard the explosion very clearly. There was no TV in the room. The only solution was of course to wait for someone to call and notify us, or wait until the news gets to the room by so diverse channels of people.

Rumors began to circulate as usual: ‘they hit the Cola Bridge (it is a bridge in the southern part of Beirut and it has been the fixation of people in Beirut ever since the Israelis started bombing bridges – everyone was waiting for them to bomb this bridge). I thought that it would be good if they hit it and finish with it, this way people will feel relieved that now it is done with and we don’t need to worry about it anymore. I expressed the thought. It couldn’t be the bridge, it was too easy.

Some moments passed and with them some comments then we forgot about it and carried on with the conversation.

We went out of the café at around 8pm and head to dinner. Karim went home and I was sitting on the ‘Domtex stairs’ with Youssef waiting for Lamia to get back (she had to go get her cellular phone). It was at that moment that I received a phone call. ‘Where are you?’

‘In Hamra, what happened, where was it? ‘

‘They hit Shiyyeh, a building near the Beirut Mall’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes we saw it’

It was enough to know that it was bad. Shiyyeh is part of the Southern Suburbs of Beirut but it is the closest district to the city and it is not a Hezbollah area. In fact many of those who escaped the Southern Suburbs found refuge in this region which is a strictly residential and very highly populated area. Bombing Shiyyeh means killing a lot of people, and I am not talking about Hezbollah fighters. A residential building was hit with two missiles; another building close-by was also hit. The buildings were full. Until now more than 15 bodies have been evacuated and many injuries. No exact body count is yet available.

Is it a statement? Bombing Shiyyeh is like bombing Beirut only not in official terms. Is it to provoke the Hezbollah into launching their rockets on Tel Aviv and then bear the responsibility of a future escalation? Or is it to scare the government or the Arab leaders (they don’t need scaring) who took a minimum of a stand against the proposed resolution that is to be voted tomorrow in the UN? Whatever it is, and whatever it might be, it made the inhabitants of Shiyyeh know that they too should become refugees, they are not safe either.

I went back home at around 10 30pm and on my way I noticed a massive traffic. They were coming to seek refuge in the Sanayeh Park which has become since the beginning of the war a transit station for those who left their homes before they get transferred (if they want, or if there is room) to some school where they will live until they get back home if they are of those lucky enough to have their houses still standing. Will Shiyyeh too be turned into rubble like the rest of the Suburbs? (in total the southern suburbs are populated by nearly half a million people, it is the most densely populated area in Lebanon, most of them are Shiites, the new ‘inferior race’).

I went back home with one thought in mind: The war will not end soon.