Green Line Beirut Lebanon

The lingering physical scars of Lebanon’s Civil War are most visible along the green line in Beirut.

You can’t see the green line, which stretches to the sea, in the same way you can view the remains of the Berlin or Warsaw Ghetto walls. It is a non physical boundary that cut Beirut in half, separating Christian East Beirut from largely Muslim West Beirut. The name refers in part to the vegetation that grew in the no man’s land in between the two during 15 years of war.

Today you see damaged battle weary architecture next to brand new structures. Buildings pock marked by bullets stand out in contrast to rebuilt neighbors that now out number them almost 20 years after the war ended.