Plane lands Music 00:00

CORCORAN: As the aircraft taxis into Beirut Airport, there’s no hint of the catastrophe about to engulf Lebanon. 00:07

Music 00:15

Chidiac arrives CORCORAN: All eyes are on May Chidiac enjoying a triumphant homecoming. One of the best known faces on Lebanese TV, this outspoken political broadcaster moves with a determined shuffle. The legacy of an assassination attempt that left her horribly maimed – losing a leg and an arm. Now, she’s finally back, after 8 months of painful recuperation in France. 00:21

CHIDIAC: I was a little bit , not afraid but anxious. I wanted to get down from the aeroplane and to take the stairs with confidence. I didn’t want anyone to see me falling for example. 00:58

Chidiac at microphone When the door was opened and I saw all the people waiting there for me, I was so touched.

CORCORAN: May Chidiac believes she was targeted for criticising the Syrians -- key powerbrokers of Lebanese politics. 01:08

Supporters greet Chidiac Greeted by cabinet ministers, colleagues and family, she remains defiant. 01:23

Chidiac addresses supporters CHIDIAC: Some of my body was cut, but May Chidiac is still May Chidiac. I have an artificial leg but my mind is still my min. I have an artificial hand, but my heart is still my heart. 01:30

Maronite monastery 01:51

Chidiac at monastery CORCORAN: A devout Maronite Christian, her first stop is this monastery – the very place where she nearly died. In a country deeply fractured by religious divide, May Chidiac was part of a movement that united Christian and Muslim. 01:59

Cedar Revolution protests It was called the Cedar Revolution – a massive display of national outrage triggered by the assassination last year of Lebanon’s popular former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. 02:17

Syria – whose troops had occupied Lebanon for three decades -- was blamed for his murder. The momentum of the Cedar Revolution finally forced the Syrian Army to withdraw. 02:33

Return to monastery 02:48

But as the widows at this service could bitterly attest, 11 other prominent critics of Syria were also killed in a wave of car bombings. They were all men. 02:54

Despite death threats, May Chidiac believed she was safe – protected by an informal code of chivalry.

CHIDIAC: I considered myself spared because first I was a woman, it was the first time they attacked a woman in Lebanon, I’m the only one and I hope I will be the last one. 03:12

File footage Chidiac’s car after bombing

CORCORAN: One evening last September, as she left the monastery and got in her car, a kilo of plastic explosive under the driver’s seat, was detonated. 03:23

CHIDIAC: When I closed the door they decided to push the button to provoke the explosion. 03:33

Chidiac They didn’t notice that I was turning towards the back seat. 03:41

Chidiac’s car after bombing

CORCORAN: It was that movement that shielded her from the full force of the blast.

CHIDIAC: I didn’t know that by that time my leg was cut and I didn’t know that I was about to lose my hand and my arm also, because 03:4

Chidiac I used all the effort I had to push myself out of the car. I was afraid that there would be a fire in the car. 04:06

May in hospital I stayed two months at the hospital in Lebanon. I had 25 surgeries. I had a very difficult time here in Lebanon, and then I was transported to France. 04:18
Chidiac supporters on street

CORCORAN: The attack brought protesters onto the streets carrying balloons, all of them pink, her trademark colour. Even those opposed to her politics came out in solidarity. 04:34

TRABOULSI: The prime suspect in all those, including in Prime Minister Hariri’s assassination is the Syrian regime. 04:49

Traboulsi. Super: Prof. Fawwaz Traboulsi Political Analyst
Targeting May was an attempt to get people to simply say we’ve had it, we can’t do anything any more and this is why -- first the fact that May survived and the horror of the attempt made people produce the exact opposite reaction -- a reaction of great indignation and solidarity, including people who disagreed with May. 04:54

Chidiac’s car after bombing

CORCORAN: No one was arrested for the attack and the Syrian Government denied involvement. For May, the message was brutally clear.

CHIDIAC: They intended to silence me, 05:26
Chidiac to explain to the others, to all the other Lebanese people, that they can silence everybody. 05:35

Chidiac walks and waves

CORCORAN: Now, after an extraordinary recovery, she’s back, but this joyous reunion is to be short lived. 05:42
Bombs fall on Beirut Just two days after her return, Israeli bombs begin falling on Beirut. 05:54

CHIDIAC: Hell opened its doors, it was terrible. I heard about the Hezbollah imprisoning the two Israeli soldiers and the operation in the south, but we were not expecting such a reply and an answer from the Israelis. It was 06:04
Chidiac above all the expectations – they destroyed the whole country. 06:26

Chidiac at hairdresser’s

CORCORAN: With Lebanon plunging into another crisis, May decides to go back on air as soon as possible. 06:37

Chidiac in car She now travels flanked by bodyguards -- a reluctant concession to the realities of public life.

CHIDIAC: I have to get used to the new situation. 06:44

I prefer to be independent – I have always been so much independent, but I have no choice. 06:55

I’m anxious also about the reaction of the people watching me. They are expecting a lot from me and I hope I’ll be on the same level as their expectations. 07:02

Chidiac returns to LBC

CORCORAN: May is welcomed back to the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation – the LBC – where she’s worked as a journalist for 20 years. 07:18

The LBC was established during the Civil War as a propaganda outlet for the Lebanese Forces Christian militia. 07:30

Since then, it’s evolved into one of the most-watched networks in the Middle East – and transmitted to the Lebanese Diaspora around the world. Now, May Chidiac, the woman hailed as a living martyr, has returned to the hot seat. 07:40

Chidiac on air

CHIDIAC: “Good Evening. September 25, 2005…July 25, 2006… 10 months ago. Sorry for being late, it has been a long time. 08:01

CORCORAN: And there’s only one topic of discussion, the war. 08:15

CHIDIAC: Today there may be more martyrs and a greater attempt to murder Lebanon. From the depth of pain the birth will come. 08:19

CORCORAN: She confronted the Syrians in her typically forceful style. Now May Chidiac treads where few other public figures dare -- taking on the militants of Hezbollah – whom she blames for starting this war. 08:2
9
Chidiac. Super: May Chidiac LBC broadcaster

CHIDIAC: Yes, I’m angry with Hezbollah because they took this decision by their own, they didn’t discuss about it with anybody. They took the whole country as a hostage to reach what they wanted, but it was miscalculated and this is what I’m saying. I’m not against them – I’m against what they did – what they provoked. 08:42

North Beirut Music 09:09

CORCORAN: The war may be continuing, but in North Beirut people are attempting to regain some sense of normality to their lives. The cafes are filling, the shops are open, and Beirut’s familiar traffic jams have returned, but barely two kilometres south of the city centre, it’s like you’ve entered a different country. 09:14

South Beirut This is the domain of Hezbollah; this is the area that the Israelis continue to pound. 09:31

Hezbollah, or the Party of God, sees itself as the guardian of Lebanon’s Shia Muslims. The movement has control over South Beirut and parts of Southern Lebanon. 09:39

Its authority here now is absolute. We’re directed to film rubble, not Hezbollah officials. Today the streets are deserted – 200,000 residents have been evacuated on Hezbollah’s orders. 09:50

Young man at bomb site Still, this man claims there have been casualties here. Some people simply refused to leave their homes. 10:04

YOUNG MAN: There is another area further down, two minutes away from here that has five families buried under the rubble after its was hit. 10:10

CORCORAN: Are the people still there?

YOUNG MAN: Still there, the building collapsed completely. 10:24

Bombed buildings

CORCORAN: This area is know to all Beirutis as “the security zone” – where Hezbollah’s administrative and political headquarters are located among the residential towers. Hezbollah claims there was nothing surgical about this air strike – that the Israelis dropped a huge bomb that sucked the oxygen out of the air. 10:28

Corcoran with man and translator

MAN: It was hit by a vacuum bomb, it collapsed. 10:50

CORCORAN: What is a vacuum bomb? 10:57

MAN: When they use it, it sucks out the oxygen from underneath and the building collapses. 11:00

CORCORAN: Unseen high in the sky, we hear a pilotless Israeli surveillance drone, hunting for targets. 11:12

TRANSLATOR (ENGLISH): …just observing the area… 11:19

CORCORAN: Do they ever get any warning? 11:23

MAN [via translator]: You are getting the warning – they are warning us that maybe it is a little bit dangerous to stay here because there are aeroplanes around and they may hit. 11:27

Chidiac with Bassam

CORCORAN: Back at the LBC, May prepares for another show. With her movement severely impaired, she relies on reporters such as Bassam Abou Zeid to be her eyes and ears. 11:49

Bassam on assignment to hospital

Today’s assignment, to report the growing refugee crisis. Nearly a million people -- a quarter of Lebanon’s entire population -- have been forced to flee their homes. 12:06

Bassam visits one of 150 schools in Beirut now operating as refugee centres. BASSAM: We have here in this school 12:17

Bassam. Super: Bassam Abou Zeid LBC reporter 460 people, and here the Caritas -- this is a Lebanese organisation and they will do everything to bring help for these people, especially for the children. 12:25

CORCORAN: The sick and elderly are clearly bewildered. 12:46

Lebanon’s deep sectarian divide is forgotten, as Catholic nuns help Shia Muslims, many of whom are passionate supporters of Hezbollah. 12:57

Mona Kweik Mona Kweik, a South Beirut primary school teacher, has been here for 15 days now. 13:06

CORCORAN: Your house. Is it still standing? 13:12

KWEIK: Until now, we didn’t know anything about our house because it’s dangerous to walk there, because Israel attack by surprise, you don’t know when. 13:14

Bassam CORCORAN: For the poor of South Beirut, the Hezbollah activists have always been more than just fighters. They provided social services which the government couldn’t or wouldn’t. Community support has been translated to growing political power and two Hezbollah members serve in the Lebanese cabinet. 13:24

Kweik. Super: Mona KweikSchool teacher KWEIK: They think if they destroy buildings, they destroy Hezbollah. That’s false. Hezbollah is in every one of us because it defends our land. If Israeli people think like that, they’re stupid, because Hezbollah and everyone fights, not in buildings, in stones, in our souls. 13:42

Al Manar TV footage

CORCORAN: And for those who have lost everything, this is a potent symbol of that struggle – the Hezbollah channel - Al Manar TV – still defiantly broadcasting from a secret location after the Israeli air strike destroyed the station . 14:03

KWEIK: It’s the secret of success of Hezbollah. Look, 14:22

Kweik even if they destroy the station of Hezbollah, I will say to Hezbollah come to my house and make a station, it’s not a problem. 14:25

Damaged transmission tower

CORCORAN: Hezbollah isn’t the only target. High above the city lies the wreckage of LBC’s transmission tower, hit by Israeli missiles. A colleague of Bassam’s died under the rubble here. 14:37

BASSAM: The Israelis they said they are targeting the towers of the TV’s and the mobile phones. 14:50

Bassam They are speaking about the Hezbollah, that they are using these towers, but it’s not true, it’s not true. 14:57

Transmission tower

CORCORAN: The LBC has managed to stay on air but much of Lebanon’s infrastructure now lies in ruins. 80% of major roads have been cut, schools, hospitals and airports bombed. 15:06

CORCORAN: How much damage has been done to the infrastructure in Lebanon so far? 15:18

Bassam BASSAM: The Government said today two billion and 20 million dollars. 15:23

Hezbollah march

CORCORAN: Before the war, Hezbollah proudly marched down the same South Beirut streets that are now reduced to rubble. Under the peace deal that ended Lebanon’s 15 year civil war in 1990, Hezbollah was the only faction – outside the weak national army – permitted to keep its weapons. May Chidiac says this concession is still deeply resented by many. 15:38

CHIDIAC: I’m not against Hezbollah, because they are a part of Lebanon, they are a big community in Lebanon, but what I’m 16:01

Chidiac against is that I cannot understand why do they have to keep their weapons and be the only ones who can decide for the whole country. 16:08

Rally

CORCORAN: But many Lebanese disagree. At a rally in downtown Beirut, the yellow flags of Hezbollah are flying – but so too are those of a number of Lebanon’s other political factions. For this crowd, the war is now a patriotic defence of the homeland. with Hezbollah holding its own against Israel’s military might – something no Arab National Army has done in decades. Their hero – Hezbollah leader --Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. 16:19

Crowd: Oh Beloved Nasrallah – we want to destroy Tel Aviv! 16:50

Lebanese soldiers at rally

CORCORAN: They’re closely watched by troops of Lebanon’s national army – which has stayed out of the conflict. No Lebanese Government dares order the military to disarm Hezbollah – fearing such a move would fragment the army along religious lines and spark another civil war. Ibrahim al Mousawi, International Editor of Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV claims 80% of the country now backs the struggle and that May Chidiac has got it wrong. 17:00

Mousawi. Super:Ibrahim al Mousawi Al Manar TV MOUSAWI: I’m sorry what happened to her, she’s a colleague but I believe that maybe she’s under tremendous effect because of what happened to her . You go and talk to the people that Hezbollah represents – you are talking about one and a half million, you go ask them – they tell you we’re ready to sacrifice our blood, our families, our houses for the sake of Hezbollah and Nasrallah. 17:29

Return to rally

CORCORAN: But with Iran and Syria supplying the missiles that rain down on Israel, May Chidiac asks who is Hezbollah really fighting for.

CHIDIAC: The question 17:55

Chidiac in the mind of many Lebanese people and politicians -- to whom Hezbollah will offer this victory, to Lebanon or to Syria and Iran? 18:05

Chidiac with family

CORCORAN: May draws her strength from her family. Her sisters and mother act as confidantes and advisers. They’ve encouraged her through a turbulent career, nursed her through a long rehabilitation, and seem slightly apprehensive over what the future holds. 15:18

MICHELLE: Yes, it’s very risky. She loves her work and we are proud of her, because maybe she has been attacked because she was special. 18:36

CORCORAN: Do you worry about that? 18:49

MICHELLE:: Yes of course, but I’m always with her when she goes to her work – so I don’t know… CHIDIAC: You have to worry about yourself now.

MICHELLE: I’m always with her so I have to worry about myself too! 18:51

CORCORAN: May Chidiac is now considering a political career with one of the Christian factions. Even those not impressed by her politics feel she still has a lot to offer Lebanon. 19:04

Traboulsi. Super: Prof. Fawwaz Traboulsi Political Analyst
PROF. TRABOULSI: May doesn’t come from a political family and I think it would always be beneficial for someone like May from her background to represent whatever she want to represent. I would like to see a woman who is there also to represent women’s problems rather than simply play the politician. 19:14

Chidiac at LBC

CORCORAN: She’s never baulked at giving her opinion, regardless of the consequences. But for May Chidiac and Lebanon these are indeed dangerous times. 19:41

Chidiac CHIDIAC: If something bad will arrive to me again, I don’t know, this will be my destiny. I cannot say anything else, because I cannot be afraid of the future , I cannot be afraid of being attacked again. 19:53

Beirut Music 20:13

CHIDIAC: I’m still thinking that I have a cause to defend, it’s the cause of Lebanon. 20:23