An SSNP parade in Hamra to commemorate the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000, on May 23, 2021. (Credit: Nabil Ismail/Archives L’Orient-Le Jour)
On Sept. 24, 1982, at 4:15 p.m., Khaled Alwan, 19, shot three Israeli soldiers sitting on the terrace of the Wimpy cafe in Hamra, West Beirut. Two months earlier, the Israeli army had invaded Lebanon amid the country's Civil War. Armed with a submachine gun, Alwan killed one of the soldiers, who was about to pay the bill, and wounded two others before fleeing toward the slope of the Piccadilly cinema. Affiliated with the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), he was found dead in 1984 under unclear circumstances.The SSNP, an ally of Hezbollah and the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad, commemorates the attack every year in Hamra, notably with parades. One such parade, in May 2021 to mark the anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon on May 24, 2000, had members dressed in black fatigues and balaclavas carrying assault...
On Sept. 24, 1982, at 4:15 p.m., Khaled Alwan, 19, shot three Israeli soldiers sitting on the terrace of the Wimpy cafe in Hamra, West Beirut. Two months earlier, the Israeli army had invaded Lebanon amid the country's Civil War. Armed with a submachine gun, Alwan killed one of the soldiers, who was about to pay the bill, and wounded two others before fleeing toward the slope of the Piccadilly cinema. Affiliated with the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), he was found dead in 1984 under unclear circumstances.The SSNP, an ally of Hezbollah and the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad, commemorates the attack every year in Hamra, notably with parades. One such parade, in May 2021 to mark the anniversary of the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon on May 24, 2000, had members dressed in black fatigues and balaclavas carrying assault...
