delayed newsworthiness

one of israel's first targets in lebanon (july 13 and again on july 15) was the power station in jiyyeh. jiyyeh is near sidon, the regional capital of the south, roughly halfway between beirut and tyre.

these attacks caused a 10,000-ton oil spill, but because lebanon's resources are being funneled towards the present internal refugee crisis, an additional 15,000 tons have spilled into the the mediterranean since then. the new york times reported this morning that oil reached the syrian coast yesterday as a result of the winds and the current.

the nighttime picture is my own -- a shot of beirut's southwestern coast during the second week of june. where the shore turns to sand is the location of the second picture, courtesy of a lebanese blogger.

according to the world peace herald, the material damage (infrastructure, buildings, etc.) from this conflict has amounted to over $2 billion. this does not include the approximately $200 million required to clean up this oil spill, or lost revenue from the closure of rafiq al-hariri international airport, failed businesses and the now bust summer tourist season, which was projected to bring 1.5 million visitors to a country of only 3.8 million people. adjusting for purchasing power parity, lebanon's gdp is $23.7 billion.

add usaid's most recent statistics -- 421 dead, 3,225 injured, 210,000 displaced to neighboring countries, and 500,000 displaced within lebanon -- and tell me how long you think reconstruction is going to take.

someone asked me a few days ago if i thought i would return to beirut and i couldn't answer the question. on a basic level, entry-points to the country are limited at the moment and will continue to be until a cease-fire comes into effect, money is raised or donated to lebanon, and then the airport runways, ports, and border crossings are repaired. more than that, though, this war has irreversably changed the city, both physically and emotionally. i received an email last week from the coordinator of international students at the american university of beirut. "the beirut you came to know," she told me, "no longer exists."