There was a pink sky over Beirut at dawn yesterday, while the pillars of smoke that came from the last Israeli salvo settled. The entire country was waiting for 4 a.m. — the announced time for the cease-fire to become effective — to breathe a sigh of relief after a 60-day long war that seemed inexorable. 60 days of calm for 60 days of raging violence? At 3:25 a.m., however, bombardments unexpectedly unleashed in the very heart of Beirut, coming closer to the government’s seat. Flare bombs were seen in the evening over Casino du Liban. Did Israel want to put on a final show, to finish off in spectacular fashion what it had started, with the pagers’ attack? Did it intend to complete, at the very last moment, the deadly work that it would not have ended had it been left to its own devices? Or was it a final warning, a ‘to be continued’ at...
There was a pink sky over Beirut at dawn yesterday, while the pillars of smoke that came from the last Israeli salvo settled. The entire country was waiting for 4 a.m. — the announced time for the cease-fire to become effective — to breathe a sigh of relief after a 60-day long war that seemed inexorable. 60 days of calm for 60 days of raging violence? At 3:25 a.m., however, bombardments unexpectedly unleashed in the very heart of Beirut, coming closer to the government’s seat. Flare bombs were seen in the evening over Casino du Liban. Did Israel want to put on a final show, to finish off in spectacular fashion what it had started, with the pagers’ attack? Did it intend to complete, at the very last moment, the deadly work that it would not have ended had it been left to its own devices? Or was it a final warning, a ‘to be...