Lebanon: Wars of the Others (15 images)

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Lebanon's brutal and bloody civil war lasted 15 years, took over 144,000 lives, wounded more than 184,000 and left 17,000 missing. For all the horror and bloodshed, a shroud of silence cloaks the events of the conflict. History schoolbooks stop at 1975. An official pardoning in 1991 means that all but a few crimes went unpunished, and save for the pockmarked walls of Lebanon's bullet-scarred cities, there are no real memorials to the toll the war took on the Lebanese. For this project, I...
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  • BEIRUT, Lebanon: On April 13, 1975, a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a congregation outside this church in the Christian suburb of Ayn Ar Rummeneh, killing a security guard. Later in the day, Christian Phalangist militants attacked a bus identical to this one loaded with Palestinians, claiming they were members of the ALF. 26 were killed.

  • BEIRUT, Lebanon: Apartment buildings in the Christian neighborhood of Ayn-Ar Rummeneh are reflected in the window of a shrine to the Virgin Mary, just metres from the spot where many locals claim civil war first broke out on April 13, 1975.

  • TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Bullet-ridden steam locomotives rust away inside Tripoli's old train station, destroyed in the first year of the Lebanese civil war.

  • BEIRUT, Lebanon: A woman leaves trendy Beirut nightclub BO18, purportedly built on the site of a mass grave dug for the victims of the Karantina massacre. Inside, coffin-shaped chairs lined up against red velvet walls lend this underground hotspot a distinctly creepy atmosphere. On January 18, 1976, over 1000 Palestinians and other muslim inhabitants of this poor neighborhood were killed by members of Christian militias.

  • BEIRUT, Lebanon: In Shatila refugee camp, a mural memorializing Palestinian deaths during the Lebanese Civil War covers a bullet-ridden wall where civilians were lined up and murdered by Christian Phalangists on September 16, 1982 in what became known as the Shatila Massacre, allegedly under the watch of the Israel Army, then commanded by future Israeli PM Ariel Sharon. The number of dead has been estimated between 800 and 2000 killed over a 36-hour period. Palestinian estimates run even higher.

  • DAMOUR, Lebanon: Mouldering coffins lie on the edge of Damour's "new" cemetery. The old cemetery was destroyed by Muslim and Palestinian militia groups during a raid on the Christian village on January 20th, 1976. Coffins were dug up and crypts destroyed, with the corpses of the dead thrown into the streets. Approximately 330 civilians were murdered, apparently in retaliation for the bloody Karentina massacre.

  • DAMOUR, Lebanon: A crucifix from the top of a coffin with the arms torn off lies on the grass in the remains of Damour's old cemetery. The cemetery was destroyed by Muslim and Palestinian militia groups during a raid on the Christian village on January 20th, 1976. Coffins were dug up and crypts destroyed, with the corpses of the dead thrown into the streets. Approximately 330 civilians were murdered, apparently in retaliation for the bloody Karentina massacre.

  • BEIRUT, Lebanon: The gutted Holiday Inn in downtown Beirut, site of numerous intense battles between different militia groups during the civil war. Many claim the building is haunted by the ghosts of those killed when they were thrown to their deaths from the roof.

  • SOUTH LEBANON: A cut-out billboard depicting the Ayatollah Khomeini stands on an abandoned T-55 tank that was supplied by the Israelis to the South Lebanese Army during the civil war.

  • TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Graffiti on a wall in Tripoli reminds passers-by of the grim heritage of the conflict.


  • KHIAM, South Lebanon: The ruins of Khiam prison, bombed by the Isralis during the first few days of the Summer War, are all that remain of the notorious SLA prison where inmates were tortured. Following Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah converted the prison into a museum.



  • BEIRUT, Lebanon: Palestinian national cemetery

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