Geopolitical Location of Beirut

Lebanon lies at the heart of the Middle East, lying at the connecting point between countries on the African continent and those in Asia. It also lies at a critical, geopolitical point where Arab conflicts meet those in Palestine-Israel. The Middle East as a whole has always been an important geographical location for its large sources of oil and natural gas reserves. A social contract has been defined by various external hands fighting for control of the regions resources in order to provide a semblance of economic legitimacy to their occupation1. The rentier nature2 coupled with the excessive presence of foreign entities trying to get their pick of the fuel coupled with growing sectarian fights has led to the chaos that now wreaks havoc on the region.

Many of these are smaller conflicts contributing to the large chaos of the region where the Saudi-Iran war takes place is examined through a comparison to the Cold War. Saudi Arabia and Iran have not been in direct conflict with each other in their fight for sectarian, geopolitical control of the region. In the same way that the US and the Former Soviet Union never declared war on each other during the Cold War, Saudi Arabia and Iran are not directly involved in war with each other but rather through the ally countries. Saudi Arabia and Iran have been fighting for this broad control of the region through alliances with the smaller countries in the region. This New Cold War3 in the Middle East is for control of not only a sectarian nature and for sectarian dominance (Sunni-Shia) but for the larger more ingrained control of the resources of the region. The pair creating a larger geopolitical conflict.

Beirut, Lebanon

Beirut being the capital and therefore, economic epicenter, has become the funnel by which all of these geopolitical conflicts intersect at: their meeting point. The entire country was at war but Beirut becomes a key battle ground by which the international interventions and political corruption culminated and eventually leads to the explosion of the city that occurred August 8 of this year. The city becomes the focus of rivaling militias which are “the key actors in the destruction of Beirut (between 1975 and 1976) and attach new meanings to the city’s built environment. Practices such as blocking streets, piercing buildings to create passages, partitioning neighborhoods… all played a part in the tactics and strategies used to bifurcate-physically and ideologically – this urban environment”18.

The city became an everyday battleground during this civil war. The city was fractured into “myriads of bordered territories protected by increasingly organized militias''19. The city became a series of checkpoints, altercations, sniper positions, and overall anxiety. This fragmentation of the capital city began to produce the complex spatial qualities and started to define the discussions around the sovereignty of the state itself. The city continued to grow and the urban fabric was continually defined by this anxiety and fear of war both ongoing and to come. Fregonese refers to this geopolitical fracturing as the “urbicide” of Beirut. It feeds into the Western exceptionalism gaze which produces imagery of an ungovernable state, one out of control, but those same eyes lack an empathetic understanding of the underlying collective trauma the city is experiencing. As more and more of these territories were defined, some of which were a single building controlled by a militia, the Green Line which divided the city of Beirut in half was starting to be drawn, demarcating specific geographic barriers of the war. The urbicide of the city characterized not only the redefined urban fabric but also the “ties between the city and its civilian inhabitants who were not left untouched either, as residents had to cope with the consequences of heavy artillery and carpet bombing”20. This kind of collective trauma should not go unnoticed as it will continue to define the inhabitants quality of life in Beirut and also emphasize the impacts of the explosion on August 8.

As the politics of the city begin to unravel, the people of Beirut became increasingly disillusioned with their government. As the city starts to rebuild and cope with the destruction of war, political priorities do not improve. The mismanagement of money and prioritization of exports and trading over the well being of the people there continuously characterize the city and much of Lebanon. The chaos within which the residents of the city were forced to live within would define not only the spatial politics of their lives but also the emotional stability of the city as a whole.

The Beirut port even more narrowly experiences these layers of political corruption, negligence, and gross disconnect in empathetic solutions. The city of Beirut was divided by this Green Line and the port lay at the crux of it.

“The best response to Black Saturday was the free what was called ‘the Fourth District’, which was still under the Phalanges militia’s control, and to open a way to the harbor of Beirut, so that work there doesn’t remain under the Phalanges mercy; and so I took a pen, and drew a line on the map, all the way from the Martyrs Square to the port” (Late leader of the Lebanese Communist Party George Hawi, quoted in al Issawi, O., el Saadi, A., & Siblini, H., 2001)

The port itself has come to stand as a political altar between government corruption and citizens residing within the city. The country was left fractured by a divided government with the implementation of the sectarian system of government put in place to carve the country’s economic pie between battling religious factions. The port became a political middle ground in the warring city divided by the “Green Line'', the geopolitical divide referenced by George Hawi. The line drew demographic redistribution with many Christians settling on the east and Muslims on the west. The line was drawn as part of the Civil War which took place from 1975 until 1990. Beginning in the southern suburbs, it progressed to the west gate of the harbor, leaving the port as one of the only places to remain neutral. The city itself became the site where sectarian tensions and regional geopolitics became part of urban space. These physical lines of separation were not solely drawing out the politics of the city but also dividing people and distributions of the public’s right to space.

Beirut being the capital and therefore, economic epicenter, has become the funnel by which all of these geopolitical conflicts intersect at: their meeting point. The entire country was at war but Beirut becomes a key battle ground by which the international interventions and political corruption culminated and eventually leads to the explosion of the city that occurred August 8 of this year. The city becomes the focus of rivaling militias which are “the key actors in the destruction of Beirut (between 1975 and 1976) and attach new meanings to the city’s built environment. Practices such as blocking streets, piercing buildings to create passages, partitioning neighborhoods… all played a part in the tactics and strategies used to bifurcate-physically and ideologically – this urban environment”18.

The city became an everyday battleground during this civil war. The city was fractured into “myriads of bordered territories protected by increasingly organized militias''19. The city became a series of checkpoints, altercations, sniper positions, and overall anxiety. This fragmentation of the capital city began to produce the complex spatial qualities and started to define the discussions around the sovereignty of the state itself. The city continued to grow and the urban fabric was continually defined by this anxiety and fear of war both ongoing and to come. Fregonese refers to this geopolitical fracturing as the “urbicide” of Beirut. It feeds into the Western exceptionalism gaze which produces imagery of an ungovernable state, one out of control, but those same eyes lack an empathetic understanding of the underlying collective trauma the city is experiencing. As more and more of these territories were defined, some of which were a single building controlled by a militia, the Green Line which divided the city of Beirut in half was starting to be drawn, demarcating specific geographic barriers of the war. The urbicide of the city characterized not only the redefined urban fabric but also the “ties between the city and its civilian inhabitants who were not left untouched either, as residents had to cope with the consequences of heavy artillery and carpet bombing”20. This kind of collective trauma should not go unnoticed as it will continue to define the inhabitants quality of life in Beirut and also emphasize the impacts of the explosion on August 8.

As the politics of the city begin to unravel, the people of Beirut became increasingly disillusioned with their government. As the city starts to rebuild and cope with the destruction of war, political priorities do not improve. The mismanagement of money and prioritization of exports and trading over the well being of the people there continuously characterize the city and much of Lebanon. The chaos within which the residents of the city were forced to live within would define not only the spatial politics of their lives but also the emotional stability of the city as a whole.

The Beirut port even more narrowly experiences these layers of political corruption, negligence, and gross disconnect in empathetic solutions. The city of Beirut was divided by this Green Line and the port lay at the crux of it.


“The best response to Black Saturday was the free what was called ‘the Fourth District’, which was still under the Phalanges militia’s control, and to open a way to the harbor of Beirut, so that work there doesn’t remain under the Phalanges mercy; and so I took a pen, and drew a line on the map, all the way from the Martyrs Square to the port” (Late leader of the Lebanese Communist Party George Hawi, quoted in al Issawi, O., el Saadi, A., & Siblini, H., 2001)

The port itself has come to stand as a political altar between government corruption and citizens residing within the city. The country was left fractured by a divided government with the implementation of the sectarian system of government put in place to carve the country’s economic pie between battling religious factions. The port became a political middle ground in the warring city divided by the “Green Line'', the geopolitical divide referenced by George Hawi. The line drew demographic redistribution with many Christians settling on the east and Muslims on the west. The line was drawn as part of the Civil War which took place from 1975 until 1990. Beginning in the southern suburbs, it progressed to the west gate of the harbor, leaving the port as one of the only places to remain neutral. The city itself became the site where sectarian tensions and regional geopolitics became part of urban space. These physical lines of separation were not solely drawing out the politics of the city but also dividing people and distributions of the public’s right to space.

August 4, 2020

The port of Beirut exploded on August 4 of this year.

Beirut lies at the center of Lebanon and the geopolitical context that Lebanon is situated within The country like much of the Arab work holds histories of colonization and foreign tug of war that happened across within and around the country. Beirut was fractured by the territories of organized militias. The city came to be defined by the anxiety and fear of what was to come

This all led and contributed to the explosion of masculine control. Masculine dominated control refers to the defining aspects of socially constructed gendered behavior where men are the ultimate “handler” and women become part of the “handled”

Naturally, political leaders in Beirut assumed the situation was under control and that they would be unaffected even in the case of it not being as controlled as previously thought And in some ways they, by they, I mean the patriarchal government of Lebanon was fine. Investigations are still underway but it was pretty obvious that almost unbelievable amounts of neglect and greed played their part. The government has effectively completely resigned to avoid inevitable blame and the city is left in the aftermath of yet another trauma.

These are some images of both the explosion and the crater left following the explosion. The crater is 400-500 ft wide.

In past disasters of this nature, the objects of the site, the boats, the armory, the buildings, are cleaned, memorialized and recognized, Here, those things dont need to be remmebered let alone do they want to be. The Beirut that was here before is not one to glorify. Instead the hole itself, the moment of death and potential rebirth shall be cared for and tediously tended to.

In a world where the sounds of air raids are as common as the azan, the disappeared outnumber those of us accounted for, and demons are celebrated as heroes, heroes marked for their bravery, where nations are divided by arms folded or hanging loose, and bullet holes become crowns on a martyrs skull, where the leaders of your tall like mountains

When we have become so sure of our impeding downfall That we watch for the people lusting for colonizations, destroying our neighbors homes and use its people as target practice When isis becomes a horde of lost anglo-saxon views and not the name of a great goddess

And when an imperialistic force mistakes its occupation as liberation and human beings are called collateral damage

It is time for modern civilization to crumble as it was always destined to so we may rise from its ashes

Faluda Islam, Tomorrow We Inherit the Earth