The Mudeirej Bridge or Mdairej Bridge is a bridge in Lebanon. It was completed in 1998 as the tallest and highest bridge in Lebanon and the Middle East but this has since been surpassed. The bridge was built as part of Rafik Hariri's vision of rebuilding and developing Lebanon and its infrastructure. The bridge served as a connecting route for the Beirut-Damascus Highway aiming to improve the main road that links Syria's capital city

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

, to Lebanon and its capital city

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 ...

Destruction

On the 12th of July during the 2006 Lebanon-Israel conflict the

Israeli Air force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

bombed the Mudeirej Bridge causing partial damage to its base and pillars, and critical damage to the road it uplifted. The destruction of the bridge was considered by some in Lebanon to be unjustified because of the perceived low strategic value to the bridge in Israeli's conflict with

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

. In 2007,

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 19 ...

announced that it would be involved in an extensive reconstruction of the bridge, due to Lebanon's political victory which put Israel and the United States in an awkward position in regards to the destruction and reconstruction of the bridge. USAID put forward US$30 million for the project.

Reconstruction work

File:Mudeirej2.jpg, File:Mudeirej3.jpg

References

External links

USAID

ReliefWeb ReportUSAID project document
* Ponte sul Leontes Bridges in Lebanon 2006 in Lebanon 2006 Lebanon War Buildings and structures demolished in 2006 Demolished buildings and structures in Lebanon Demolished bridges {{Lebanon-bridge-struct-stub