Car bomb strikes downtown Beirut

Beirutis this morning suffered yet another of what seems to be a string of tit for tat car bombings. This time, the target was a prominent member of the Sunni community. His convoy was destroyed by what is thought to have been a remotely detonated car bomb, killing him and four others and wounding around 70, according to the latest figures.  

The blast blew out almost every window of a nearby commercial centre, creating a carpet of broken glass. 

Tripoli bombings: the aftermath

Civilians pay the price in Abra

 Although much has been reported of the loss of life during the recent fighting between Sunni fighters ant the Lebanese army in Saida (read more about it here), thanks to Hisham, the guy pictured below, I was able to visit the homes of some Abra residents who had been caught in the crossfire.
See the video below to get a good idea of how some of the damage was caused. The guys in the video are firing from the hillside shown in the last picture posted.

If Mad Max played cricket

 Changing gears a little here to take in a clash of crickets to greatest titans - England and India - who here swapped the green (or whatever it's called) for the remains of a destroyed factory. As cool as this looks, it's still a sad reminder that Beirut has pretty much zero public greenspace and certainly nowhere with grass that this could happen without greasing a few palms.

Guardian looks at refugees

 

Another sad story chronicling the plight of Syria's refugees, read it here. 

Independent World cover

To save you squinting at Loveday's wonderful words the online edition is here.