Ramlet al-Baida is a public beach in
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 ...
. The beach is situated along the southern end of the
Corniche Beirut promenade where
Avenue General de Gaulle
Avenue Général de Gaulle is a seaside, palm-lined street in Beirut, Lebanon. The avenue, which was named in honor of the French general and president Charles de Gaulle, forms with Avenue de Paris the Corniche Beirut promenade. The avenue runs no ...
meets Avenue Rafic Hariri and ends at Rue Venezuela. Despite the beach's location in
Moussaitbeh, close to the upscale district of
Ras Beirut, the beach is popular with a predominantly male clientele from Beirut's low-income
southern suburbs. The beach is also a popular cruising area.
History
The beach was the location of major events during the war in Lebanon. On April 10, 1973, a seaborne Israeli commando unit that landed in
Dora, departed from Ramlet al- Bayda after assassinating PLO officials,
Muhammad Al Najjar,
Kamal Adwan, and
Kamal Nasser. The corpse of
Francis Meloy, the incoming U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, was discovered on this beach on 16 June 1976. In 1983, a terrorist group, believed to be Iranian-backed, bombed the barracks of the French peacekeepers that were stationed four miles from the beach area. The attack killed 58 French soldiers.
Beau Rivage
Hotel
Beau Rivage, which overlooked the beach, was the headquarters of the Syrian intelligence in Beirut from 1997 to 2005. The hotel became the center for detaining Lebanese dissidents and synonymous with torture and human rights violations. After the Syrians withdrew from Lebanon in 2005, the hotel was renovated and in 2008, it was reopened as a civilian luxury hotel.
References
{{Reflist
Beirut