Perhaps it was a late-dawning awareness of the extent of the destruction and horror. Perhaps it was sheer exhaustion. Perhaps it was only that the opposing sides needed a chance to replenish arms supplies. Whatever the reason, Beirut last week was tremulously observing a pause in the political-sectarian civil war that has killed at least 3,500, wounded 6,000 more, left more than $2 billion in property damage and destroyed the city's once freewheeling economy. Beirutis have seen eleven previous cease-fires come and swiftly go in the past eight weeks; few believed that...
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