A "barrage of peace and love." Beirut, Nov. 21, 1983. (Credit: L’Orient-Le Jour Archives)
Mere minutes after Rene Mouawad wrapped up the ceremony at the Government Serail, the President of the Republic, just 17 days into his term, departed Sanayeh in an official vehicle. The armored Mercedes, a gift from Rafik Hariri, would soon be reduced to a mere "heap of scrap metal."A roadside explosive claimed the lives of the head of state and 14 others. On Nov. 22, 1989, the national holiday turned into a massacre. “It was as if the attack targeted the very essence of independence,” lamented L’Orient-Le Jour.As Lebanon commemorates its 81st Independence Day this Friday, the daily echoes of bomb blasts persist. A dwindling few still cling to the ideal, while many dismiss it as a hollow, fragile independence.Even in the darkest years of the Civil War, authorities — and at times the Lebanese people themselves — took pride in...
Mere minutes after Rene Mouawad wrapped up the ceremony at the Government Serail, the President of the Republic, just 17 days into his term, departed Sanayeh in an official vehicle. The armored Mercedes, a gift from Rafik Hariri, would soon be reduced to a mere "heap of scrap metal."A roadside explosive claimed the lives of the head of state and 14 others. On Nov. 22, 1989, the national holiday turned into a massacre. “It was as if the attack targeted the very essence of independence,” lamented L’Orient-Le Jour.As Lebanon commemorates its 81st Independence Day this Friday, the daily echoes of bomb blasts persist. A dwindling few still cling to the ideal, while many dismiss it as a hollow, fragile independence.Even in the darkest years of the Civil War, authorities — and at times the Lebanese people themselves — took pride in...