The current US state department “Lebanon Travel Advisory”, updated on June 6, urges US citizens to “reconsider travel” to the diminutive Middle Eastern nation “due to crime, terrorism, armed conflict, civil unrest, kidnapping and Embassy Beirut’s limited capacity to provide support to US citizens”. Three significant “high-risk” sections of Lebanese territory have been assigned the even more dramatic “Do Not Travel” warning: the Lebanese-Syrian border, the Lebanese-Israeli border, and refugee settlements.
As a US citizen myself, I can definitively say that the greatest danger I felt during my recent 10-day stay in the country – where I have been a frequent visitor since 2006 – was at the top of Beirut’s seaside Ferris wheel, which somehow continues to make its rounds despite the notorious Lebanese electricity shortage that has plunged much of the landscape into darkness.
Years ago, the Ferris wheel operator commented to me that the only time the giant wheel had ceased functioning for an extended period of time was during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. This incursion killed tens of thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians, primarily civilians, and culminated with the Israeli-backed massacre of up to several thousand unarmed people in the Beirut refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila – speaking of the “dangers” of refugee settlements. READ MORE AT AL JAZEERA ENGLISH.