Close-up view of Beirut stand-off

It started about 6 PM yesterday evening after Hezbollah’s leader had been speaking. The area around me was filled with gunfire all of a sudden, and there was gunfire near by apartment. I had to move my office away from the window, it reminded me of tornado drills in the Midwest. A storm came and there was huge rain and then it was quiet at night. Then in the morning I was woken up by more gunfire. (What did you actually see from your apartment?) It sounded like the gunfire was getting closer and then I was cowering in my bedroom. I could see there was a gunman on a rooftop near me, pro-government I assume, and he was firing down the street at opposition members who were trying to come up the street. I went downstairs and hung out with the doorman until the fighting subsided. (Things are calmer now?) There’s still fighting but about three hours ago they stopped. I ventured up the street which is usually busy but today they were packed with machine gun shells. This is a Sunni Muslim area, a pro-government area, but Hezbollah has taken over the area and put up their own flags and taken down all the pictures of Saad Hariri and his father who was assassinated. (Any sense of how many people died in your neighborhood?) I have no idea, but I do think I saw one body. It was a bit disturbing.