Mercy mission into Beirut airport

By Jon Leyne
BBC News, Beirut

From the air, the swimming pools at the luxury hotels are a rich blue. Beirut is still the high-rise capital of the Middle East; the most stylish city in the Arab world.

A huge bomb crater is positioned in the middle of the runway.

Or perhaps it is just a mirage.

Today that was the view from an aid plane, bringing urgently needed supplies of food and medicine to this beleaguered city.

I joined a Jordanian Air Force plane in Amman, Jordan, for this mercy mission.

This was one of the first flights into Beirut since the fighting began - the only tangible outcome from many days of depressing diplomacy.

To reach the Lebanese capital, we followed a flight plan precisely coordinated with the Israeli Air force. It was a zig-zag that took us out to sea, well away from the dangerous airspace over southern Lebanon.

Beneath us, Israeli warships patrolled the Lebanese coast.

Israeli warplanes knocked out Beirut airport early in this current conflict. There is still a huge bomb crater, precisely positioned in the middle of the main runway.

Before our flight could land, Jordanian engineers patched up another runway. It is still not safe for commercial aircraft.

Less than two weeks ago this airport was teeming with life. Businesspeople and tourists enjoyed the normality of the new Lebanon. Now the airport is eerily deserted.

As our military plane moved to a standstill, airport workers descended on the cargo, rushing to offload the desperately needed supplies.

Desperately-needed aid

Across the Arab world there are telethons, fund raising drives, emotional appeals for assistance for the Lebanese people.

There is no shortage of aid. The problem is getting it through to the people who need it.

Jordan seems to have been allowed into Beirut airport, because of its peace treaty with Israel.

The Jordanians are focussing on setting up a field hospital. It's a makeshift affair, housed in a school in downtown Beirut. But it has operating theatres, x-rays, even the capacity to carry out plastic surgery.

The Jordanians flew in supplies to set up a field hospital

It was not due to open until the day after we visited. But already there was a steady stream of patients, most of them evacuees from southern Lebanon.

Mohammed Baidoun brought his young son in for treatment for apparent food poisoning. His family fled from the town of Shahabiyeh in southern Lebanon.

His bitterness towards the Israelis was balanced by his effusive gratitude for the medical care.

"We thank every nation, whether Jordanian or Saudi or Egyptian, for their help in treating these children," he said. "Thank you."

But these are the lucky ones. Aid workers say getting help to the embattled villages in the south is close to impossible. Until there is a ceasefire, that is unlikely to change.