because I had to leave the country in order to renew my Lebanese visa. Friday afternoon, Joe, his mom, and I went up to their village in the Bekaa, so that we could wake up early and go to the Syrian border. This morning, we drove to the main border crossing, Masnaa, on the Damascus-Beirut highway. When we got there, a guy with a gun, who was not dressed in an army uniform, asked us where we were coming from.
"Nabe Sheet."
"And you're coming this way. Turn around and go the other way."
Apparently, Joe and his mom saw other cars passing through before us, but I wasn't paying attention.
As soon as we turned around, Joe and his mom started cursing the man, Sanyoura, their God, and everyone else they could think of. They claimed the guy was a member of the Mustaqbal militia (Hariri's party) because it's a Sunni area. And they turned us around because we're Shia. We had to drive over an hour to the northern border crossing at Baalback.
I don't know if I believe that story. I want to know if they were stopping everybody. But it reminded me of that movie, West Beirut. (I highly recommend it.) When things first start getting not-normal, it's with the roads. All the roadblocks. You can't go this way. You can't go that way. People asking for ID's. "Where are you from?" i.e. "What's your confessional sect?"
Last night, in the village, the big rumor was that the Ishtirakiya (the Druze party) had set up road blocks and were pulling Shia people out of their car and beating them up. That seemed a little far-fetched for me. When I asked my Druze friend about it, she said the only roadblocks were the ones set up by Hizbollah.
Then I talked to a friend in Aley who told me that 7 Hizbollah and 4 Ishtirakiye were killed last night in the Symposium in the heart of Aley. I just asked the people in my house about it, who are watching Manar, Hibollah's news outlet, and they said the Ishtirakiye took 3 Hizbollah guys in Aley, cut two of their throats, killing them. They are still holding another and no Ishtirakiye were killed.
When we got to the other border, their cousin was the guy in charge. He was very nice, but said we still had to go into Syria and wait for the Syrian visa. Last time we did this, we had to wait 8 hours. This time it only took an hour. It was Saturday. Last time, we went on Friday (Duuhhhh.) We got there in the middle of the day, instead of at the buttcrack of dawn like we did last time, when no one was in the Damascus office. And mom bribed the guy $14. I guess that did it.
We saw a Kuwaiti family, who had 2 Philipina maids with them. At first, I asked myself, "Why are there Kuwaitis here? Don't they go through the airport? Why are they traveling overland through Syria?"
And then it hit me. . . the situation is not normal.
On the way back, the army guy stopped us, and said the whole Damascus-Beirut highway was closed.
"What's your problem? Aren't you watching the news? Kil al tareq walaena."
I asked Joe, "The whole road is on fire? They're burning tires and cars?"
"No. It means that people are shooting each other."
His mom replied, "It was better during the war (of July 2006)."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
" It's better to have bombs dropping out of the sky, than for the people to be turning their guns on each other."
I didn't agree. Bombs dropping out of the sky really scared the --- out of me. But then again, I've never been caught in crossfire.
So we had to take an alternate route to Beirut. These roads weren't crowded. Once we got to Beirut, it felt like everything was normal. Of course, we live in the southern suburbs. We didn't pass downtown or Hamra or where any of the action is.
Three of my friends have left Beirut and gone to their homes in the mountains. One of my friends left her apartment in Hamra and is staying at the AUB dorms. That was where I was during the July War of 2006.
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