The Principle of Collective Guilt

Reporting from Beqaa Valley

by Special correspondents Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan 31.07.2006

Israelis regularly bomb three places in Lebanon: the south of the country, thus clearing a way for the land troops and trying to destroy Hezbollah's rocket launchers, the southern suburbs of Beirut which they consider as the base of the organization, and the Beqaa Valley.
Beqaa Valley stretches the whole length of Lebanon to the east of Beirut, and those towns which are bombed by the Israeli Air Forces, are located to the north of capital, that is very far from a front line. But this place has a special value for Lebanon.

The main city of the valley, which is the principal target for Israel, is called Baalbek. This city has become famous in 1980th. Since 1976 all area around it has been occupied by Syria, but the crucial day of Baalbek was November, 21st, 1982. On that day Hussein al-Musawi, the leader of "Amal" group, has captured the Shah Abdullah barracks from the Lebanese gendarmerie. Musawi has given the barracks to Pasdaran (Corps of Guards of Islamic Revolution in Iran). Here Hezbollah was created, and from here, from Baalbek, operations on capture of the American hostages were planned, and they were held in the barracks of Shah Abdullah. The Soviet diplomats, captured in 1985 by Imad Mugniya (currently Hezbollah's chief of military operations), apparently were expecting their fate here. Naturally, the city has been completely closed for strangers.
Baalbek has yet another fame. Poppy and cannabis were activly cultivated in Beqaa valley in 80s, so that more than 50 % of marihuana and hashish, confiscated in the Western Europe, was from valley Beqaa in the early 1980s. In the beginning of 90s, due to the efforts of the Lebanese government on the destruction of plantations, the country's status was changed — Lebanon has turned from the drugs manufacturer to the center of drugs transit. The underground laboratories began to open in the Valley, processing opium raw materials, and the bigger part of these labs has been located around of Baalbek.

But last years the city has almost got rid of its ominous reputation. The tourists started to appear here, attracted by the temple of Jupiter, the greatest Roman building on this side of Mediterranean sea...

It is obvious, that after the long-term selection during the civil war, there are no people in the city who do not support Hezbollah, and its supporters are the whole population of city. But because of this, Baalbek has not ceased to be a city in the usual understanding of the word — that is a place where there are schools, supermarkets and ordinary apartment houses.
During this war Israelis bomb Baalbek almost every day, claiming, that they hit only the objects of Hezbollah. We have decided to check, how much these claims correspond to reality.

Damnation of Baal

Before we got to Baalbek, we had to pass a careful check in the village of Nabijid; this big Shi`ite settlement in Beqaa valley is almost a sacred place for Hezbollah as the predecessor of Hassan Nasrallah, Said Abbas Musawi, killed by Israelis in 1992 was born here. This place is full of yellow flags of Hezbollah and the portraits of sheikh Nasrallah.
Some minutes after our entrance to village, we are stopped by three cars with security guards of Hezbollah. They carefully check us, examining not only bags, but also amateur photos in mobile phones. People of Hezbollah are dressed in green uniform trousers, on a belt a portable radio set and handcuffs, nobody carries the weapons. As we have been explained, the weapons can lay in cars, but they try not to show it, in order not to frighten the population. The biggest suspicion is caused by a felt-tip pen which they check on asphalt: whether it can be used to make the signs - reference points for aircraft.
After an hour-long personal identifications, including the names of parents, we are allowed to travel further with an accompanying person. We see a burnt car in a field — the locals tell us, that they hit it twice: the driver has almost evaded the first rocket, by moving into a ditch, but he was overtaken by the second rocket there.
Hezbollah has a lot of volunteer assistants here : vigilant young men put out from each passing car, and we need to explain ourselves all the time.
We drive in the village which has a mosque of sheikh Musawi in its center. It is only a few hundred meters from a Christian village which is peacefully neighboring the Shiite Nabijid. Orchards and planted fields are seen along the road. The soil is red which brings every fruit, which you plant in it. There are many country houses here which look like palaces with columns and arches. We ask, what inhabitants of the valley are occupied with.
— Basically agriculture. But the main business for Shiite is to make children, — laughs our accompanying person, Hajj. — So we fight with the tactics of Israel, which attempts to deprive the Hezbollah of support in population, destroying the local residents
We approach Baalbek on an absolutely empty road, the driver drives 140 km/h under the accompaniment of radio "Nur" ( radio Hezbollah). He increases the volume when the news signal comes in, we recognize the melody as a soundtrack to the Hollywood action movie, "Speed", starring Keanu Reeves.
— They report that Israelis have lost eight men killed, and it is the largest loss of Israel during the conflict. Yesterday sheikh Nasrallah has told, that the new stage of war would begin, and today his words have proved to be true!
We fly on the deserted highway, on which there are only yellow posters with the atomatic rifle raised in a hand.
We impede at the ruins of the enormous Roman temple of Jupiter, which appear exactly as on the picture from the guide, since the Israeli aviation thus far left it at rest. However, in twenty meters from the temple, on the first cross-road, we are again intercepted by the people of Hezbollah. For the first time in this city, we meet the guards of organization with the weapons, with familiar "kalashnikovs".
It is impossible to move here without the accompanying person, which conveys us along the carefully selected route. He forbids us to make photos of people ; however, the city is deserted, only most steadfast ones remain here. We are shown the ruins of what were apartment houses four days ago. Six and four-storied buildings have collapsed to the earth from the airstrikes, twelve people perished here, among them the children. This is the very center of Baalbek. Then they conduct us to the most dangerous place in the city, here bombardments levelled the entire block. The supermarket, which was opened in the month before the beginning of war, is now only the heap of rubbish, the bundles of diapers and detergents are strewn among the ruins. The local residents take out bags with the flour, which are not burnt, from the basement. On the ruins they put a poster: "we will not give in and we will fight". Next stands the school, beaten by splinters.

After the airstrike the people left into the mountains to the druses. Those, who remained, indicate that Israelis revenge them for the fact that they support Hezbollah. It seems, this is called the principle of the collective responsibility. The power of contemporary aviation refutes old testament logic "an eye for an eye".
We are dazzled by destruction - it is already impossible to look at the broken apartment houses and the burnt cars.

The aims and targets

Baalbek is not the unique aim of bombardments in the valley. Actually all Shiite settlements in Beqaa have become a target.
On the entrance to the outskirts of town of Chtaura one sees the broken steel plant, owned by "Musawi" company. In a stead of a shop there is an enormous funnel of the depth of not less than four meters, the finished production is scattered all around - steel framework, twisted by explosion. Two burnt trucks stand nearby. The impact has destroyed the plant completely, but since they bombed at night, only the security guards were killed. However, the next apartment house has suffered from the same impact as well. We meet its owner, Samir Abu Musa. When the rocket hit the plant, his entire family was in the house, he with his wife and four children. This family usually lives in Germany, and it returned home for the summer.
Before the bombardment this was an excellent three-storied house from the bright stone. In the Shiite villages a typical house ownership is a large two- three-storied house with the wide balconies, the large court, decorated by grape vines, and the garden. They are proud of their houses here and put all their means in them, competing with each other.
- Where do you get all of it from ? - we ask the approaching inhabitants.
- Many people in the valley have their business abroad, and they put the money they earn into the buildings here. Now many houses are destroyed, but as soon as war will end, we shall start all to build up anew, you will see, - the elderly woman nods her head.
- Where you will take money?
- We shall earn. Maybe, the relatives from Brazil or Canada will help.
Indeed, because of the civil war a lot of people fled the country, and the diaspora totals nearly 8 million worldwide. Note, that not more than four million lives in Lebanon itself.
The three-storied house of Samir is now not suitable for living : splinters destroyed the kitchen and the drawing room, the walls in the rooms are punched through, all seams in the walls were broken up from the blast wave.
- When the explosion happened, I was in the drawing room with my wife, and children were in other rooms, says Samir. - as no one perished, I do not know. My son sits at the computer all the time, and he has left for a moment, and the splinter got exactly in this room. After that, I sent the family in Zahle (Christian town, which is not bombed. - note by author). - I have built the house only four years ago, I have had no time yet to paint the terrace.

Samir is the owner of a small transport company, he has several trucks, which carry the foodstuffs from the valley into Beirut. Today this is probably the most dangerous business in Lebanon, because Israelis bomb the roads most of all. The Beqaa valley is the most fertile place in Lebanon, the most part of the fruits and vegetables for the country is grown here. Furthermore, the shortest way to Damascus goes through the valley. Several years ago they have finished the construction of a high-speed route between Lebanon and Syria here. The highway, named "the Arab bridge", costed $ 500 million, but now it is broken, and its main bridge "Dayrish" - the largest in the Middle East - was blown up. As a result, the trucks with the foodstuffs are now forced to wind along the narrow mountain roads. However, Israelis have declared in the beginning of war, that all trucks are the aim of the Air Force, since they can bring weapons from Syria.
In Tarshish, we see what remains from two such trucks, the burnt frame and the broken body. The bags with the sugar lie in one of them until now.
According to Shafiq Qassis, the head of the trade union of the truck drivers, all in all 450 cars were burnt during the time of bombardments. They aimed both the small "pickups" with load capacity of 300 kg and the big trucks, carrying 40 tons. As a result, out of 170 thousand trucks available in the country, only 200 move on the roads now.
Roads are the main objective of the Air Force of Israel not only in the Beqaa valley. The people continue to flee from the south, but they are severely bombed, and this fact cannot be explained by any military reasons. Indeed the cars go from the south to the north, and not on the contrary, and there is no need to transport weapons in them. Even the cars with the signs "Media" and "TV" have become targets, since Hezbollah can use them as cover. As a result the Lebanese TV has withdrawn its film crews from the frontier areas, and now there are literally a few (TV) people there, who have their families there.
To get under the airstrike here is much easier than in Beqaa - there are only two roads here, which are controlled by the enemy Air Force. In the city of Tyre there are now more than 200 corpses and very many injured; the doctors, who do not sleep by twenty-four hours, are afraid, that there will be no medicines as nobody can reach there.
P.S. On the next day after our trip in Beqaa, the Israeli Air Forces have burnt three more cars near Baalbek, claiming, that they carried the weapons on them. Actually these were the empty truck and two cars, in one of which there were policemen. All of them were killed.