Lebanese are not asleep

Tonight, Wednesday 30 May 2007, the Lebanese people are waiting at their homes. With a curfew set by the government for motorcycles and small vehicles between 8 pm and 5 am, the roads are not only empty of the latter, but also from cars and people. The reason behind this semi-curfew is the International Tribunal investigating in Rafic Hariri’s Assassination. 800 days later, the truth behind who the criminals and executioners are, is going to appear.

During the last 10 days, several explosions occurred, as well as attacks and gun-fire between an Islamic militant group in North Lebanon hiding in a Palestinian refugee camp and the Lebanese army. These attacks resumed yesterday night and have been described as the strongest and most severe hour and a half of fights since a week. All this adds to tonight's tension.

On the social level, those last 10 days were not busy at night as it is usually. Malls, movie theaters and restaurants had no waiting lines, empty parkings and innocent traffic jams. Lebanese are not afraid as much as they are sick of the situation. Delivery and DVDs are the Lebanese’s best friend those last few days. There are always exceptions of those who go out and party whatever the situation is, but these people are rare.

In 2 to 3 hours, a decision by the International Tribunal will be announced. Lebanese are waiting and will not go to sleep before they know. Over many decades, dozens of assassinations happened, and in the past 2 years and since Hariri’s assassination there has been 5 others that have targeted politicians as well as journalists and media persons. In Lebanon, people have become accustomed to not knowing who did what. Is tonight the turning point in Lebanese History?