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Middle East

An overview of Beirut, Lebanon, which bounced back partly because of its location on the water. (VOA/V. Undritz)
Beirut buildings rise higher and higher as everyone struggles to get a sea view. (VOA/V. Undritz)
Building cranes punctuate Beirut's skyline. (VOA/V. Undritz)
Place de l’Etoile was once a sniper’s alley of ravaged buildings. The square has been painstaking reconstructed, including the French colonial clock tower. (VOA/V. Undritz)
A boy with a toy gun poses with a Lebanese Army soldier, who patrols Place de l’Etoile. (VOA/V. Undritz)
A decaying Ottoman-era house across a street from a well maintained one. (VOA/V. Undritz)
Construction cranes and a bombed out, egg-shaped movie theater near the blue domed Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque, which was completed in 2007. (VOA/V. Undritz)
The destruction of a French colonial government building from the 1920s during the civil war uncovered Roman baths from 2,000 years ago. (VOA/V. Undritz)
With the building frenzy reshaping Beirut, it takes a little looking to find the archaeological layer of the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War, only one generation ago. (VOA/V. Undritz)
The scarred hulk of the old Holiday Inn, with bushes sprouting out of the old Sky Bar, looms over downtown Beirut – a reminder of the 15-year civil war that ended in 1990. (VOA/V. Undritz)
A high end boutique near the old Holiday Inn, where the Lebanese Army parks armored personnel carriers. (VOA/V. Undritz)

Beirut Rebuilds

Published December 24, 2012

War may be raging next door in Syria, but Beirut continues to build. One generation after the Lebanese Civil War ended in 1990s, a visitor has to search for evidence of war damage in the "Paris of the Middle East."