SQ59

Do you have a link?

AJLondon

Are there any possible ways for visitors to leave Beirut now? Or would the most sensible option be to report and seek shelter in their national embassy asap?

underpressure

Here's one

Palal

1. Unless a few more sources corroborate FOX's story, I would not jump to any conclusions.

2. It would be a stupid move to attack Syria (or anyone else) right now without direct provocation as more civilians would be likely to get killed.

dovster: If you're asleep this obviously can wait (it's ~1:20AM there right now) I read that reserves are being called up. Can you tell us the extent of this? AFAIK most men under 40 are technically in the reserves.

entropy

Under 45, but they won't call up very many for this operation.

GUWonder

Haifa was hit by something fired from a place other than Iran. That said, there had been a big ramp up of Iranian training specialists -- aka military advisors for Hezbollah aka "Iranian Guard" above -- in Lebanon since summer 2003. But they were allegedly instructed not to engage in actual cross-border engagements themselves except in the event that Iran had come under attack. But they have certainly been involved in training about, and assembly of, the implements of war -- including things fired from Lebanon into Israel. Perhaps the latest staging in the Kurdish areas of Iraq and in the SE there has caused the Iranians to change their calculus/instructions? If so, I'd expect to see Iraq become a lot more noisy (with explosions) sooner than later with places around Baghdad's Green Zone going a little more red than usual even for that area. This has the potential to get a lot messier for a lot more people faster than expected.

For those considering leaving Beirut right now, better to leave in the day than during the night. The road to Damascus is still an option -- some are stuck on it with cell phone batteries dying and their car chargers not around. So maybe something has happened there now too?

While seeking refuge at foreign embassies in Lebanon may minimize the chances of being hit by an airstrike, it won't necessarily provide protection if the kind of mobocracy witnessed during Lebanon's civil war manifests itself in parts and certain embassies become targets. You can still try to call through to the embassy/consulate and getting registered is a good idea, especially if govt-facilitated airlifts become a major part of this. Of course if you have registered and then move out of the area do update the embassy/consulate.

MSY-MSP

The only ones I know of being called up either are getting called up as normal, or fall into the category of those with "special skills."

entropy

My ex-bf who was in Shiryon showed me his call-up letter for Miluim in August, when I was in Tel AViv 3 weeks ago, i said "cool, should be a nice vacation". Today when I talked to him I said.. uhh, yeah, that sucks! He thinks it won't last that long though.

If it does turn out that the Iranians launched that attack (and there is hard evidence). Iran will be hard pressed to defend itself, and will likely face the wrath of the United States. It is pretty clear that the Iranian and Syrian "leadership" want this war, and the Haifa attack was done to provoke an escalation. Maybe even the lebanese supporters of Hizbullah will recognize that they are being used and call a truce.

GUWonder

The Iranian and Syrian "leaderships" are mostly not on the same page in terms of wanting things, war or otherwise -- at least as of more recently. Certainly not on the same page vis-a-vis Hezbollah as much as in the past -- especially since one has the money and means, and the other does not have much more than its legacy resources. Made and makes for uneasy dynamics and angry phone calls and exchanges (between the "two").

A fight of this nature (via Lebanon more so) is ugly enough. A more direct fight -- via even more non-proxies, in more non-proxy lands -- will make things much worse for far more people.

SlowTrekker

Dovster and BEYFlyer's first and last round of the BEY DO will be on me, Inshalla, Im Yirtseh Hashem, God willing......Keep low

chartreuse

That sounds pretty final. I've been trying to figure how long it might take to drive from Beirut to the Syrian border, but I suppose it's anybody's guess in these circumstances.

I know that that as of late AM(BST) the UK embassy was telling people to get in a taxi to Syria. This may have changed since then, of course. Regardless, GUWonder's advice is still valid, however, especially the part about not having people looking for you if you're not there.

BEYFlyer

It is about 4:00 a.m. and the Israeli airforce are attacking positions in the southern suburbs of Beirut. A huge fire is still burning at the airport and another one further South (I assume that of Zahrani refinary). They have just taken out the main power stations that feed Beirut... God help us all...

MapleLeaf

May God be with both of you tonight and with all those caught up in this unnecessary violence and war.

I will keep you in my prayers.

MapleLeaf

us2

This sounds like a fairly serious escalation of the situation and, with the saber rattling coming out of Iran, one that has the potential to escalate further. One bad sign is that the US State Department is urging US citizens to leave Lebanon. I think at this point it will be quite difficult for either side to turn this thing off.

CO FF

This thread is one of those rare instances where the 'net provides powerful emotional experiences through providing a real-time window on the world, in a different scale than commercial news services.

There are separate threads on OMNI for FTers to express their views of the situation.

This thread needs to remain free of political opinions, and focused on the safety and well-being of our fellow FTers.