- Title: LEBANON: "TOWER OF DEATH" IN BEIRUT NOW REGARDED AS SYMBOL OF PEACE
- Date: 23rd August 1991
- Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (AUGUST 21, 1991) 1. GV ZOOM-IN AND SV'S BURJ AL-MURR TOWER WITH SCAFFOLDING/ CLOSE-UPS OF DAMAGE (3 SHOTS) 0.17 2. GV ZOOM-OUT BURJ RIZK TOWER IN DISTANCE 0.24 3. GV AND SV;S VARIOUS VIEWS OF RAVAGE DOWNTURN BEIRUT BUILDINGS (3 SHOTS) 0.33 4. GV CARS IN WAR-TORN STREET 0.37 5. GV OF STATUE IN FRONT OF RUINED BUILDINGS 0.41 6. GV'S AND SV'S VARIOU
- Embargoed: 7th September 1991 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BEIRUT, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA1HU572VKRI7J39W5GY75R3223
- Story Text: BEIRUT, LEBANON
Beirut's highest building was dubbed the "tower of death" when it bristled with guns during the 16-year civil war, but now the 35-storey structure is a symbol of the current peace.
As Lebanon rebuilds after the war, scaffolding now surrounds the shell-damaged Burj al-Murr tower block which dominates the maze of apartment and office buildings in the heart of the capital.
Syrian, Palestinian, Israeli and Lebanese forces, militiamen and guerrillas fought for 16 years to capture and hold on to the unfinished Burj al-Murr, which is Arabic for tower. Situated on the edge of the Green Line battle zone that divided Beirut until December, it was an ideal position for fighters.
Lebanese and Syrian armies are now in control of militia-free Beirut for the first time since the civil war began in 1975 and the first floor of the tower is used as a base for the Syrian army.
During the war Syrian troops fired cross-city exchanges from the Burj al-Murr tower with Christian Lebanese Forces militiamen in their own tower of power, the 25-floor Burj Rizk in the Ashrafiyeh district of East Beirut. These duels were widely known as "the war of the two towers."
<strong>Source: REUTERS - ALI MOUSSA</strong> - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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