Lebanon

A few weeks before my arrival fighting broke out between Hezbollah and government forces. The leader of Hezbollah felt that the government´s move to shut down its communications network in the country was tantamount to an act of war against the organization. As the two sides clashed, I monitored the situation closely in Egypt and Jordan and it certainly seemed that even though I had a plane ticket the chances of visiting Lebanon were slim at best. Fortunately, just five days prior to my flight, a peace deal was brokered in Qatar. On my first day there I basically wandered around the streets of Beirut and saw a huge military presence in the city with troop carriers mounted with .50 caliber machine guns. This photo of the Statue of the Martyrs in Beirut´s central square is a testament to Lebanon´s troubled past and uncertain future. Riddled with bullet holes, I found the image quite striking.