Within hours Lebanon did not have a functioning airport.
The war left the Lebanese infrastructure totally destroyed and the damages from the 34 day conflict were estimated at anywhere between $5 and $15.3 billion .
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah went into hiding right from day one and his whereabouts remain unknown until today , but after the ceasefire he declared the result as a "divine victory", probably because Israel had failed to wipe out his group completely
The war devastated the Lebanese economy since it took place at the beginning of a promising tourist season. Over 2 million tourists were expected that year. The unfortunate tourists that made to Lebanon had to be evacuated by their governments for safety reasons
Prime minister Fouad Siniora, who was the key statesman responsible for ending the war accused Hezbollah of turning Lebanon into another Gaza.
Hezbollah's publicly stated objective of the kidnapping was to use the kidnapped soldiers in negotiations to free Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.
Nasrallah has publicly confessed that, had he known that Israel would react so ruthlessly, he would not have authorized the kidnapping operation.
Nasrallah's excuse of course holds little water. Weeks earlier Hamas had capturing one soldier whose name is Gilad Shilat. Israel responded by leveling several areas of Gaza.
The 2006 war was a turning point for Hezbollah . Prior to the war it was the most admired Lebanese group for liberating south Lebanon from Israel, but after the war Hezbollah was perceived by the majority of the Lebanese as a fifth column whose objective was to serve the interest of regional powers such as Iran and Syria. Following the war Hezbollah pointed its guns internally and tried to bring down the government. Hezbollah along with its other Iranian and Syrian backed allies occupied downtown Beirut for nearly 2 years which resulted in the closing of hundreds of businesses and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.
May 7 2008 will never be forgotten by the Lebanese. That was the day when Hezbollah along with its allies occupied all western Beirut and tried unsuccessfully to occupy the Druze strongholds of Mount Lebanon. On that hundreds of Lebanese were killed.
The majority of the Lebanese are concerned that should the Iranian nuclear facilities be attacked in the near future, Lebanon will be paying the highest price . The concern stems from the belief that such an attack will trigger another war between the Shiite militant group and Israel and that Israel this time will try to finish off Hezbollah.
Sunday
05:54 Nawaf al-Moussawi told the "Sawt el Mada ": re-establishing trust with the other team can be built through the mechanism of real participation in government
05:33 Mashnouq told al Liwaa : Jumblatt is working to correct the the political transformations to conform to the regional and international changes , and will not subject mount Lebanon to another war
5:30pm NNA: A mild earthquake measuring 3 on the Richter scale shook the southern town of Srifa, located east of Sour.
5:00pm Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mouallem told Lebanese parties: “Those who take a step toward Syria, we will take a step toward them.”
04:22 pm French FM Kouchner said after meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem in Damascus on Sunday, that both France and Syria are aware of the importance of allowing the Lebanese to form their own cabinet without external interference.
3:02pm Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the country's highest Shiite authority, Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan discussed the threats posed by Israel’s espionage networks.
1:00 pm Speaker Nabih Berri said in a statement, marking the third anniversary of the beginning of the 2006 July War, that
Lebanon defeated Israel because of the people’s and the nation’s unity.
12:50pm CAPE COAST, Ghana — President Obama brought a message of tough love to Africa : In an address televised across the continent he told the African nations that American aid must be matched by Africa’s responsibility for its own problems.“We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans,” Mr. Obama said and added : For all its previous sins, he said, “the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants.”
12:45pm Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh left Beirut to Sharm al-Sheikh to attend the Non-Alignment Movement Foreign Ministers meeting, ahead of a Non-Alignment summit to be held on Wednesday and which will be attended by President Suleiman.
12:43pm A celebration was held at the Defense Ministry for commemorating army martyrs of the July 2006 war with Israel. Defense Minister Murr placed a wreath in the name of President Suleiman at a memorial monument.
12:40pm Youth and Sports Minister Talal Arslan told OTV: Up to now no government formula has been offered to us by the PM-designate. We do not object to providing the president with a balancing share in government through constitutional means. He praised Jumblatt: "MP Walid Jumblatt’s recent stances toward the opposition are positive and reduce foreign interference in domestic Lebanese affairs, he said
12:27pm MP Hadi Hobeish : The logic of proportional representation does not agree with our political system. I welcome March 8 Forces in government without providing them with veto powers.
12:02pm Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh from Bint Jbeil: The role of Lebanese immigrants should be strengthened in all that revives the role of the state and society.
11;10 Telegraph.co.uk : Britain's offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan is showing signs of success, despite the heavy losses of recent days, British PM Gordon Brown has insisted.
11:00 CNN: The CIA withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress during the Bush administration on direct orders from then-Vice President Dick Cheney, current CIA director Leon Panetta told members of Congress,
10:50 Israeli fighter jets violated Lebanon airspace when they conducted low flights over Nabatiyeh, Marjayoun and Hasbaya areas of south Lebanon
10:12 MP Marwan Hamadeh told "LBC:" No one believes that Jumblatt will be putting pressure on Hariri to accept the blocking third for the minority ( veto power in the cabinet) , because that would mean we lost the election and the power given to March 14 by the public was sold
10:00 Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir received MP Antoine Zahra at the Diman and discussed current developments.
09:57 Syrian President Bashar al-Assad meets with visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in Damascus
9:14 MP Dori Chamoun told VOL: A lot remains from the cedar revolution. The revolution still exists and its address is "Lebanon First."
9:20 Al-Balad newspaper: MP Alain Aoun said there is no obstacle preventing the fostering of more positive relations between the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces.
08:00 An-Nahar: According to an opposition source, President Michel Suleiman did not reject the 16-10-4 formula ( 16 ministerial seats for the parliament majority , 10 for parliament minority and 4 for the president) when he met with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri .
Saturday
11;15 pm : Kfar Shuba, a south Lebanese border town is up in arms over "incursions" by Israelis into Lebanese territory... Not by soldiers , but by cows. They are reportedly , drinking too much water from a local reservoir. Kfar Shuba are demanding that UNIFIL should do something to stop the Israeli "bovine invasion."
11:00 pm Xinhua- Argentina reported six new A/H1N1 flu deaths on Saturday, the Health Ministry said. With the newly-reported casualties, the country's death toll caused by the A/H1N1 flu ( swine flu) rose to 94.
9:10pm Colombian Vice-President, arrived in Beirut on an official visit and headed for the airport to Baabda to meet with the President of the Republic
8:04pm "LBC": the formation of the government has progressed into the distribution of quotas and the quota that will be given to the opposition is in line with its size and capacity but without the disrupting third
8:16pm Ghassan Mukhyber told New TV : we cannot develop political morality without a set of rules for political behavior and these must be clearly specified in the laws, but they are not
07:09pm The entourage of Kamal el Kheir opened fire using a military weapon at Internal security first Sergeant Nazih which resulted in wounding him, Zuheir el Kheir and Ahmed el Kheir and they were all taken to a hospital in Miniyeh
5:54pm Hariri from Baabda: Cabinet will be formed in due time, God willing. The President and I share the same concern -- we want to come out with a government of national unity.
5:00pm Hariri arrives at Baabda Palace for talks with President Suleiman.
4:38 pm Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Saltanov will arrive in Lebanon next week to meet with key officials
03:14pm Ziad Choueiri, Vice President of the Lebanese Democratic Party, resigned from the party following differences with party leader Youth and Sports Minister Talal Arslan.
03:01pm Senior Israeli military official, Alan Friedman warned Hezbollah against carrying out acts of sabotage against Israel or abducting Israeli citizens and soldiers.
02:14pm VP of the Higher Shiite Islamic Council Sheikh Abdel Amir Qabalan said reconciliations between the Arab states paves the way for Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to visit Syria and for the resolution of all past disagreements between Beirut and Damascus.
1:55pm Former minister Nayla Mouawad: Lebanese want the cabinet to be “made in Lebanon”
1:15pm Suleiman: Israel continues to violate U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 on a daily basis.
12:30pm President Michel Suleiman discussed with Phalange leader Amin Gemayel at Baabda palace consultations to form a new government.
12:13pm Hezbollah's MP Hussein Hajj Hassan told New TV on Saturday that there is no difference between Hezbollah’s Military and Security Apparatus and its Politburo.
