Beirut’s garbage crisis
Funded: Beirut Report
The Beirut Report founder and editor in chief, Habib Battah, has been covering Lebanon and the Middle East for 15 years as an investigative journalist, filmmaker and media critic. Battah is also a regular contributor to Al Jazeera, BBC World, The Daily Star, Bold Magazine and others and is a two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award.
Follow him on Twitter @habib_b

Project
Ancient human history is being bulldozed in Lebanon. A rare Roman chariot race track was gutted to make way for luxury apartments owned by a government minister. A site believed to be a Phoenician port was chiseled away by jackhammers to build a $300 million high rise. A bronze age settlement, which contained the oldest scale ever discovered, has been largely bulldozed to make way for a beach resort parking lot.
While the international community abhors the destruction of antiquities carried out by extremist groups–and often campaigns for their protection–little is said when Western architectural firms and Lebanese real estate companies are involved in erasing historical sites, key to understanding early human civilization. Has postwar reconstruction become a cover for archaeological destruction, and will this pattern play out in other war-torn countries across the region?

Photo Credit: Beirut Report

Photo Credit: Beirut Report

Photo Credit: Beirut Report

Photo Credit: Beirut Report
See the published investigation here on Beirut Report:
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