Street fighting, sieges and kidnappings were all part of Lebanon's 15-year civil war, witnessed by the iconic hotel.
After the fighting in the Lebanese Civil War had led to the destruction of several of Beirut's famous luxury hotels like the Holiday Inn, Phoenicia, St Georges, the Commodore became the news media's hotel of choice. Located deep in West Beirut, it was tucked between taller buildings that usually took the brunt of shell and mortar fire.
When the war broke out in 1975 between right-wing Christian parties supported by Israel and the United States fighting left-wing Muslim groups allied with Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), Beirut's hotel district became a war zone. The warring factions vied to establish a foothold in the district's high-rise hotels which often offered snipers a vantage point and other fighters strategic positions to launch attacks.
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