Type a picture of the headlines here on al jazeera, the u. S. Justice Department Says its charged a man for plotting to kill former National Security adviser, john bolton. It describes him as a member of irans revolutionary guard. Iran says the accusations a baseless my country has more from washington. Oh, the Justice Department has outlined an elaborate and lengthy murder for hire plot which began some 18 months ago when sharon per se allegedly contacted somebody within the United States and persuaded him to act as essentially a murder for hire, promising some 300000. 00 should he kill john bolton now unknown to put sophie was the fact that this individual was an f b i, informant. So he informed the authorities. The authorities were abreast of the plot as a develop. Ukraine is warning that russia is preparing to connect power from his upper region nuclear plants, a crimea which moscow annexed in 2014. The plants come under attack several times over the past week. And some European Countries are setting power consumption caps as they cut back on Russian Energy sources. You countries stopped importing russian coal on wednesday and some a warning they may face blackouts. Sierra leone imposed a nationwide curfew in response to violent anti government. Protests. Officials say several people have been killed, including members of the security forces. Just as are angry about the rising cost of living and want the president , julia smart b o to step down. For my years, President Donald Trump has refused to answer questions on the oath in new york, he appeared at the Attorney Generals Office as part of a long running investigation looking into his real estate business dealings. The case involves allegations, the Trump Organization misled banks and tax authorities attend summer heath and a fierce drought of sparked a major wildfire in southwest france. Around 6000 hectares of pine forest have been destroyed. A north Korean Leader kim jones suffered with a high fever during the countrys cupboard 19 outbreak. Thats according to his sister. Shes also blame the pandemic on propaganda. Leaflets dropped by south korea. Sol has dismissed those claims as groundless. So those were the headlines. The news continues here on al jazeera after war tales stateroom. Thanks for watching. I thought talk to al jazeera, we ask for the rebound you speak off is clearly come, get a high cost for airlines and the industry. Whats going wrong . We listen. You were part of the, im struggling in the 19 seventys if you have any regrets. No, we meet with global news makers and talk about the stories that matter on al jazeera aah control holiday in. And you controllers the region around and thats why it was such a bloody battle. The important thing if you were Walking Around in beirut was not to be in the line of fire from the holiday in the battle of all the day incomplete. Its the division of beirut into 2 sectors. East and west. Beta worked. Ah, philosophy, stuff, welsh, on the, on our shock for young old will have flogged me from. Ah, the most powerful building in the city for me is the holiday. Yet more hotels are buildings that function as normal hotels, but often in the context of real instability to ah ah ah, fe route, once a jewel in the mediterranean, but then torn apart by war. This is the sea front of the lebanese capital today, around 3 decades after the end of the civil war. The devastating conflict lasted for 15 years. This street was the green line, dividing bay route into east and west. Dominating the front line was this concrete skeleton. What was once the holiday inn . Its wolf still pattered by the scars of wool, a grotesque witness to the years of separation, killing, and destruction. Ah, my name is tom young, im a painter and architectural activist from england. And ive lived in by route for about 8 years. Im particularly inspired by the memories and the feelings, the emotions that are embedded in the walls of the buildings and by roots. The most powerful building in the city for men is the holiday inn. Its so famous and so i chronic, its like a joint to wish remains and the censure, the sissy like an unresolved scar. The holiday inn is still a stock reminder of war wounds that have yet to heal even today. Ah, the 13th of april, 1975, was the official start date of the violence. But this was a proxy conflict. Fought during the cold war era on one side, lebanese right wing parties, backed by the United States, aiming to expel armed palestinian groups from lebanon. On the other left wing parties allied with the p, a low and backed by the soviet union. Who so the right wing christians as an extension of israeli and american influence in lebanon, only 2 weeks off to bay root erupt in the south vietnamese, capital saigon fell to the communists, ending over 19 years of conflict in viet nam televisions. First war, now came lebanon, all maze of reporters and wool photographers moved from Southeast Asia to the middle east and began to occupy bay route. Hotel rooms filled up with news crews, and a new chapter of the cold war began. Most of the correspondence, tv crews, and photographers checked into this hotel, the commodore a safe haven in the west of the city. Every day they would set off from here from downtown bay route for the main Hotel District, where the holiday inn was the front line. The holiday inn was a war hotel in the sense that it was part of an urban battle, a battle between 2 factions, of the strategic heights, but it wasnt a price hotel. So none of the journalist covering the one bedroom stayed in the holiday in the holiday and became one of the 1st significant physical manifestations of the, of the conflict. My name is kenneth morrison, professor of european history. And one of my key Research Interests is in the history of war. Hotels war hotels are buildings that function as normal hotels, but often in the context of real instability. So i look at new mid us hotels. Saudi was holiday in beirut, commodore im but also the hotel europe on belfast. For example, the leader palace, i indic se a cypress. All of these hotels have continued to function throughout this period of instability. Some are we in the real midst of an urban conflict . A war hotel emerges out of a history where journalists over long period before was start, have somehow find it a congenial place to be a watering hole convenient near the center of activity in the city where the politics happens, where the culture happens, where you meet people the hotels which made they root the Tourist Center of the middle east. Im johnson de moby, and ive long been a reporter reporting from all over the world. And therefore, ive been in wars and most memorable amongst these was the experience of reporting from the lebanese civil war in the ninetys seventys. This was once the richest part of the richest city in the middle east. I 1st went to lebanon in 1972, as her young reporter, my very 1st article for a magazine here called the new statesman in which i effectively said, this place is waiting to blow. All it needs is a spark because of the complexity of this very small country, surrounded by competing nations, ah, from the 1950s to the early seventys, they route was a magnet for the International Pleasure seeking a lead they routes. Hotel district was at the heart of its luxury tourism economy making it a favorite jet set destination. Ah. When we speak about bay roads golden age as dismissal under the middle east, we are actually talking about an area, the Hotel District. That is the very specific product of a precise geopolitical project. My name is theyre offering anessa. Im a political geographer who is based at the university of birmingham. I am interested in hotels and urban conflict. Holiday inn came quite late in the day. Ah, in 1974, it was opened. It came quite late in the day into this Hotel District, which was considered a play ground for celebrities and politicians, and diplomats and spies. The Hotel District started life in the 1920s. When the st. George opened for 4 decades. It was one of the most prestigious hotels on the mediterranean. During the cold war, in the 19 fifties and sixties, the bar of the st. George was described, does a revolving door of information. The british double agent can philby was irregular. He operated under cover as a foreign journalist and on the 30th of january, 1963 was spotted for the last time at the bar in the saint george before disappearing in bay route and reappearing a few months later in moscow. Oh no more smart hotels sprang up, including the furniture, even more luxurious than the saint george. But when the holiday inn arrived in 1974, it was not only the tallest, but also the last to open before the civil war broke out. I remember the experience of the furniture and i went into the holiday in different scales of hotel, but both of them pretty luxurious hotels. The venetia was very grand indeed. A holiday inn was a holiday in but a very up market holiday. And so there was plenty of chrome, plenty of silver, plenty of gold colored drapes. It was done very much in the style, but the arab world likes warm coming. She denise yell, sandals, honestly, how to fe, settled with the Hartford Halle when i let me come solomons over there to hannibal alley. La minnie allison. Mm hm. Sorry. Hey, sorta literally in boston with us, and have you looked in kilo mclinn, this friend or a loaner . They indiana came middle her shuttle is d. The mill of mann, mom or la fontose argy, but he bared the fair. I will maribel missed our bella, martha highlander . See . Can haley, hows it . Good. Hello. In missouri door. Oh, i will. I shouldnt be there till hannibal ally came feminist heavy though li. Be elaborately bridge or cameras or her daughter. Bunfield order. Dear my son, i can lift it and also to contaminate as ali. Oh will lead mamma silly shade a medical wire to amazon them at home or to shut command album. Libby levied la la la, all my to sharif my spin of sunlight cont, animals hold. Then i will not have shelf either gresham, our basil and the see ready be are low or cannot be ruled artist tom young wanted to get inside the building to day, but to do that he had to get permission. Not only from the owners, but from the lebanese army, which still controls it as a strategically sensitive location. Young wanted to indulge his passion painting. I finally got the chance to go inside. And my, my, my immediate feeling was one of just overwhelming emotion. I felt sad, i felt i felt horror, but i felt amazement. Oh, when i started my project for the holiday inn. And so i started painting it from the outside from many viewpoints and and then i discovered that the parents of a very good friend of mine that i yeah. How does so refer her parents, sammy and finance hubbard. I actually, ah, not only live next to the holiday inn and have a fantastic view of it from their balcony. And there possibly one of the very few people in lebanon who had their wedding reception dinner in the holiday inn. Sammy had done those little hannah for haughty and unpacked. Mm hm. Ah. Then there wasnt sent ledford sammy, what about sabine ganeth she and ive had a bill every year all holiday n b i need like the latin law. Anomaly half lee. I shut off now. Bad mom jan, i mean is always line one. As i was now was stumbled on half leak in it. Hefley i eat healthy again. It was that kid had awaken lemme from as i was in its horn, my la little guns, ready . Something mckenna, mazda, and had them healthy. Been on the swim, the fin shot on little machine. If it was it a good of a tip on idabel . Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha n aliesha. National minimum has a canada send out that idea line. Okay. By the ship at that. Oh, can i that . Hm said this vin then . Yeah, nina, shakin the muscles in latin were gonna men. Oh it and nancy lee jarnigan annual wellness. I remember been only the n y that even do, ill see if he could have it at the nail, but a little harder men hum said ha, were within holy band. Seeing a building from a distance you understand its context within the city and what it must have meant in the civil war. I use this very bright red, which expresses this, the blood thats been spilled than the violent from the fire and the hate and the anger. And every time i slash the, the paints, its a way of going through that anger on that violence and honoring that. And i also a raise it as if that itself is the erasure of memory. When the civil war started in april 1975, the pay a low when the Lebanese National movement for the maronite christian flange party, the violence was triggered by the so called bust incident. On the 13th of april, when fighters from the flange party opened fire on a bus, carrying palestinians as it drove through that stronghold of an old romani, 26 palestinians were killed and dozens wounded, unleashing what became a living hell on the streets of the route. Which spread rapidly throughout lebanon. There was street fighting and shelling. There was snipers and kidnappings, and sick terry and massacres across the religious divide. The christian felon, just malicious, were based in east bay route, but gradually took control of the main downtown streets in the west of the city, the strategic port on the Hotel District, including the saint george, the venetia, the hilton, and the holiday inn. On the 24th of october, 1975 left wing muslim militias and Palestinian Armed groups under the umbrella of the National Movement, launched a massive offensive to try and regain control of the Hotel District which straddled east and west with the battle of the hotels. 19759076 was was simply a battle for control of the strategic heights. He who controlled the strategic heights, kids essentially dictate terms. So controlling these buildings in the Hotel District, the hide ice buildings became extremely important for the militias. There had been market or can be there either a le, my solo for working with shortly elephant or social had a lot and only were or whether than one hours had been a son. George will rinneys the militia fighters started moving upwards and they started going on top of bowers, one, eas bush on more. Another one is holiday in a few days in to the battle of the hotels. The guests had completely abandoned the entire district and evacuated to the neighboring mediterranean island of cyprus. Ah. Soon after the upper floors of the holiday inn was set on fire by intensive shelling. The fighting on the ground spread into what was called sect, to full, where the philanthropists had begun using the hilton as a sniper vase in the days leading up to the start of the civil war. The bay route hilton had been preparing for its grand opening. But that never took place instead, malicious on both sides checked in before any v i p guests. This rare archive video shows the moment when left wing fighters seized the lobby of the hilton. After the fallen justs had withdrawn to their positions in the holiday inn. The important thing if you are Walking Around in beirut was not to be in the line of fire from the holiday inn. My name is tim phelan. I was the bbcs middle east correspondence in beirut in the seventys eightys and ninetys. I was in beirut during this much of the lebanese, so a war, i remember once trying to get down to the holiday inn to try and make some sort of effort, get into it to interview the avalanche us. And just as i was getting to the point in an area cor, im or i see where you would come right round a corner into the face of the hotel gunfire started and i scuttled back. There was a dead body lying up the street. It was all rather sinister. I fled back to the hotel. Im afraid it wasnt one of my brave days. But did some people did get across to the holiday inn . On the 20th of march, 1976, the so called lebanese and Palestinian Joint forces launched their strongest attack yet against the philanthropists in the Hotel District. Their aim was to control all key positions there. But especially the highly strategic holiday in control holiday inn. And you controller that the region around say you, you, you took the holiday inn if you possibly could, and thats why it was such a, a bloody battle the holiday inn and it surrounds blaze for 3 days as opposing malicious vice for control. No one knew which way the fighting was going. Not even the lebanese and foreign journalists who reported on the National Movements 1st incursion into the hotel lobby. Fatal elliot to learn on what are before Allah Mcclellan little fund. Be hand lozzo. I left my mom, put my mac mom and short on an on to be very on. Im annoying, keep a small group of christian for lunches to manage to hide inside the hotel. Killed a senior National Movement commander before making their way up to the top on the 24th floor. By the folder, hey o. Collazo put south and publish on the record. On our shop for young, our hug can clock mill front rabbit. Yeah. Matuse drive south was saudi bizarre, a fee brought in a mass, missouri portal. Oh no. So what i am in la la barbie. A lot of our sri ayana la on some follow beside. I always thought i keep Mo Julio Mike of the, on the images of the sniper dropping 24 flaws to his death on the street. Under the militia, celebrating for the cameras have become symbols of the fall of the holiday inn. Blue dot bottles. That happened the room by room floor by floor stair by stair. The battle of already day in completed the division of beirut through the green line, into 2 sectors, east and west beta. And these partition remained over the course of the 2 following decades. And he passed by d, all it aint no one will ever know how many heroes died here in the holiday in. The battle lasted 3 days and 3 nights and there were no prisoners at the end. Jonathan demme will be reported on several overseas was for British Commercial broadcaster i tv for and was one of the 1st foreign journalists to enter the holiday inn and document the aftermath of the fighting there. Smouldering ruins of what had been this very popular resort hotel. And he looked at in thought. This is what we do to one another. As a hotel. And now its a shelf total shell. Light bulbs hanging down off of the off of the wall. Wall wires, chairs smashed up a piano that was in there, which somehow its, its more or less survived. The chandeliers, all like this, broken, this sort of looking a bizarrely ah, like gargoyles staring down at what humanity had done to itself below the vision, it will not be a surprising vision. But it was surprising that that could happen in beirut. All oon the green line of course, and the civil war was a place with flowers and trees grew abundant then. And so as a reference to that. But its also a way of envisioning some Brighter Future kind of sense of hope that might spring up in the ruins of the past. Today around 3 decades, on from the end of the civil war, the complexity of lebanon, sectarianism, and the geo politics of the region mean that the country in its people are still struggling to recover from its effects. The majority of the Hotel District has been rebuilt. The enormous shell of the holiday inn still towers over downtown, awaiting its fate. No more green line for it to look down on today. But the monument to 15 years of struggle continues to attract visitors, historians, artists, and filmmakers. Old seeking to understand the events of the seventys and eightys more than any of a ravaged building, surviving the conflict. It surely deserves the title war hotel. A reporters retreat in a brutal civil war. If a commodore hadnt been there, the israel invasion would not have been so well reported. The commodore had become journalistic center. You could be in a safe enclave and then you went out into civil war. I started off leaving this while the grand suite at the commodore hotel. The next room i was in was underground in a tiny prison. So as a hostage bay ruge, the commodore wall hotels on Al Jazeera Al jazeera correspondence, bring you the latest development on the war in ukraine. We had to take cover. This is whats happening on a daily basis. The medics here say he is incredibly lucky. Those coming out across the lines and no, no mans land where one of the few to gain access to this embattled town, they take us to their basement where we find others sheltering from the shelling Police Evacuation now by say, 3 day journey devastated buildings are now a grim reminder that the russians were here. I believe you like everywhere. Connectivity is paramount. And yet for infrastructure and dependence on Foreign Corporations means to many remain offline. Now a politician and tech activists are building a whole grown solution to connect live use and secure the nations technological sovereignty. Ah, regal beaks, the Citizens Network on a just you, ah, ah
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