Le Commodore Hotel Beirut, also known as the Beirut Commodore Hotel, Hotel Commodore, or simply the Commodore is a five-star luxury hotel located on Rue Baalbek in the Hamra district of

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

History

During the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

, the Commodore became the international news media's hotel of choice, providing a safe haven for many Lebanese and foreign correspondents and diplomats on assignment between 1975 and 1987.How Beirut’s Commodore Hotel became a safe haven for world media
''Aljazeera.com'', 11 December 2018 When registering at the hotel, guests were greeted with the question "Artillery side or car-bomb side?" Unlike other foreign journalists, the late

Robert Fisk Robert William Fisk (12 July 194630 October 2020) was an English writer and journalist. He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. As an international correspo ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

correspondent for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' who set residence at Beirut in 1976, recently stated that he never stayed in the Commodore, describing it as a seedy hotel with extremely high prices, where he met regularly with colleagues from the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

to have lunch with them at the hotel's restaurant. In mid-February 1986, a week of fighting between the Druze (PSP) and Amal militias took place. The PSP drove Amal from most of West Beirut, including the Commodore. The hotel was extensively looted for several days. Order was restored on 22 February by the arrival of the Syrian army, which entered West Beirut for the first time since being evacuated in August 1982. After the war, the hotel was demolished (demolition started in February 1987) and built anew. Hussam Boubess was among the investors of the new hotel. It reopened in February 1996 and was affiliated with Concorde Hotels of France.Sam F. Ghattas
Commodore Hotel: Reminder of War, Symbol of Revival
''Apnews.com'', 26 February 1996

Famous guests

Terry A. Anderson Terry Alan Anderson (October 27, 1947 – April 21, 2024) was an American journalist and combat veteran. He reported for the Associated Press. In 1985, he was taken Lebanon hostage crisis, hostage by Shiite, Shia Hezbollah militants of the Isla ...

Jonathan Dimbleby Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby. ...

Thomas Friedman Thomas Loren Friedman ( ; born July 20, 1953) is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for ''The New York Times''. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global ...

H.D.S. Greenway
The War Hotels: Lebanon
''Pri.org'', 11 January 2011 *

John McCarthy (journalist) John Patrick McCarthy (born 27 November 1956) is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster, and one of the hostages in the Lebanon hostage crisis. McCarthy was the United Kingdom's longest-held hostage in Lebanon, where he was a prisoner f ...

Terry Waite Sir Terence Hardy Waite (born 31 May 1939) is a British human rights activist and author. Waite was the Assistant for Anglican Communion Affairs for the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, in the 1980s. As an envoy for the Church of ...

Description

The hotel consists of a seven-story building with 203 guest rooms and suites, some with private balconies.

In popular culture

The Commodore Hotel is briefly mentioned in a scene of the 2001

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

Spy Game ''Spy Game'' is a 2001 action thriller film directed by Tony Scott and written by Michael Frost Beckner and David Arata. The film stars Robert Redford and Brad Pitt as CIA operatives entangled in a covert rescue mission during the final day ...

'', set during the War of the Camps in

References

Bibliography

*John Laffin, ''The War of Desperation: Lebanon 1982-85'', Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1985. *Thomas L. Friedman, ''From Beirut to Jerusalem'', Anchor Books, 1990. , 0385413726 *Tim Llewellyn, ''Spirit of the Phoenix: Beirut and the Story of Lebanon'', I.B. Tauris, London 2010. �

*

, ''Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War'', London: Oxford University Press, (3rd ed. 2001). �

*

, ''The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East'', Harper Perennial, London 2006.

External links

Le Commodore Hotel Beirut official sitePhoto of Le Commodore Hotel Beirut in the 1960s
{{coord missing, Lebanon Hotels in Beirut Resorts in Lebanon Hotels established in 1943