Sheikh Mohammed recalls 'beloved Beirut'

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Dubai - He relates how he found it, and how its bright image turned into darker one.

By Hesham Salah

Published: Wed 20 Feb 2019, 9:51 PM

Last updated: Wed 20 Feb 2019, 11:55 PM

In this chapter, Sheikh Mohammed recalls his earliest memories of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. He relates how he found it, and how its bright image turned into darker one.

My first memories of Beirut date back to the early 1960s when I came from the deserts of Dubai, with its mud houses, sandy streets and palm-covered markets.

I travelled to Beirut with my family, passing through on our way to London. Beirut amazed me as a child and I fell in love with it as a young man. But it would break my heart as an adult.

Whoever visits Beirut will never forget it, and whoever deals with its people can only return.

A waking dream though it was, Lebanon was fractured and divided into sectarian splinters. It is no longer the Beirut we once knew.

As Minister of Defense of the United Arab Emirates, I witnessed the disastrous turning points.

The first was on April 13, 1975, when the first gunshot went off to announce the start of a civil war that was to last for 15 merciless years, killing more than 150,000 people, wounding around twice that number and causing colossal economic damage, estimated at more than $25 billion.

Sheikh Zayed made many efforts to bring the parties and factions together in reconciliation, but all of his noble attempts failed.

In June 1976 came the second development with the intervention of Syria. I quietly watched the Arab Summit that was taking place in Riyadh, then the Summit in Cairo in October 1976, calling for a ceasefire and the end of the war all over Lebanon.

I knew that the proposed solutions were only temporary, and that the root causes of the problems were still lingering under the surface.

The strongholds of the Lebanese National Movement caused extensive losses to the Syrian forces, but, eventually, Lebanon became a Syrian province under the rule of the Al Assads.

As outcome of the Riyadh and Cairo summits, the Arab League formed the Arab Deterrent Force - including troops form the UAE- to enact a truce, stop the bloodshed and establish peace in the country.

By the end of 1976, we had sent 30,000 men from our joint forces and with eyes on the ground I was able to see all angles of the situation. I cannot fully express my loathing for the atrocities of war, and from my personal experience in combat, I know that it is never the solution.

The second encounter involving my beloved Beirut occurred in 1982 and it was even more horrific than the first. In June 1982, the Israeli army under the leadership of Prime Minister Menachem Begin and the Minister of Defence Ariel Sharon invaded Lebanon, which had become a haven for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), protected by Syria and Iran.

After two months of sporadic resistance and fighting, a ceasefire agreement was reached. The PLO withdrew from Beirut and headed to Tunis.

On September 15th, only one day after the departure of the Palestinian fighters, the Israeli army occupied the western part of Beirut, talking full control of Sabra and Shatila, two refugee camps inhabited by Lebanese and Palestinian civilians.

The massacre the followed in Sabra and Shatila was a horrific catastrophe that lasted for 40 hours between September 16th and 18th, 1982.

I ordered several C130 aircraft packed with tonnes of humanitarian aid supplies, in one pf the biggest operations of its kind in the Gulf.

I went with one consignment to visit the camps myself. To this day, the images remain seared into my memory, scarring my heart.

Unfortunately, Lebanon is still pawn that many try to manipulate.

When Lebanon is once again a united home and independent, then it shall again become a welcoming place and inspiration for people from all of the Arab World.