The optimism among foreigners and locals alike that this crisis will blow
over in the near future is dying a slow, boring death. The Northern part
of the city got a surprise tonight as the Lighthouse - in a tourist area near
the University of Beirut and the Port on the Christian side of town were
hit. The latter is less than a mile away from my current location; it gave
our building a good shake. We ran to the roof of our hostel and saw smoke
drifting up and an Israeli war ship moving towards the impact site.

I am situated in sight of what I'm told is one of the last flyover bridges in the
country and traffic was almost constant at mid-morning. We're also in
close distance to the bus station and a daily stream of buses head North to what
is believed to be a Sunni and Christian and therefore safer part of the country
as well as a possible escape route to Syria, although today's bombing proved
otherwise. So far it seems that Israel has stayed on its predicted targets. As
Hizbollah has declared an open war and America is viewed in league with Israel I
have become more concerned with a threat from within my own Hotel than a
bomb.

I have watched nervously as two new guests have arrived, one who
has asked me and the other American to take a walk withhim. We said
no. Others include policemen, who are apparently"friends" of the
manager. Perhaps all the tension in the air has made me paranoid.
I'm certain it has as flow of tension and minor relief come in waves, missile
explosions become sadly exciting, and the TV blares Al-Jeezera nonstop, of which
I have a new found respect for their on-time journalism.

Foreign governments seem to be finally coming around with escape routes. The
Norwegian government is organizing a fleet of buses North to Syria tomorrow,
says a friend here, meanwhile the Canadians are told to wait. The US
government has promised the 25,000 Americans here a boat, apparently a very big boat that they want us to pay for. I missed one opportunity to leave while
the Damascus road was still open, mostly out of a selfish desire not to change
my plans, I waited longer because I was not confident about the Syrian
government accepting Americans and now it seems I will be in this for the long
run.

We'll see what tomorrow will bring....