Adrian's Reviews > Beirut Rules: The Murder of a CIA Station Chief and Hezbollah's War Against America

** spoiler alert ** Never has a book shed so much light upon such a controversial subject : Lebanon and the rise of Hezbollah.

This book is addicting , written in a thriller like manner , following the original timeline of the rise of Hezbollah.

The reader is thrown directly into the Beirut 80's , a city with daily bombings , mass slaughters , ethnic cleansing , guerillas around every corner, Israel occupying the southern part of the country while US and western countries are trying to figure out what the hell their peacekeeping efforts are worth.

The story begins with the total obliteration of the US Embassy in Beirut , a seven story building , performed using a truck going at full speed packed with a ton of explosives.The truck penetrates the security fence and breaks through the main entrace of the compund and stops into the lobby. The dead-man switch detonates and the building evaporates killing around 100 officials and injuring hundreds.

From here on we find out that the perpretators are shia individuals from the Beka'a Valley , a region inhabited by the poor shia minority of Lebanon. This region will become the perfect recruitment center for the emerging terror faction - Hezbollah.

Iran sends a couple of thousands special agents to start preparing this new Resistance Movement .
The constant cash flows from this big brother will enchance the new faction in areas such as bomb making , kindnapping , warfare , quality of life thus securing a steady and consistent flow of young men ready to die in the waar against Israel and its allies.

The first action will be introducing a new form of assymetrical warfare : bombing suicidial attacks on Western presence in Beirut basically exporting Ayatollah Khomeini's islamic revolution to Lebanon.

The situation escalates ,in the upcoming years diplomatic compounds around the world turn to dust , civilians from all walks of life are abducted , tortured and killed , airplanes are sabotaged , USA and especially Israel retaliate with lethal force and deadly precision.

A complete timeline of why the things are as they are in Lebanon , how Hezbollah raised to power , the constant long reaching arm of Iran and meddling in Beirut affairs , the always ready to facilitate/intermediate Syrian neighbour.On the other hand we start with the impotent CIA that does almost nothing in the 80's and 90's to save its abducted citizens , which after the Reagan administration slowly starts showing its teeth , esoecially after 2001.

Last but not least, Israel, always vigilent , always ready for an eye for an eye operation , always seen as a pariah by western powers for defending its citizens.

Great read !