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Football marks the anniversary of civil war

To mark the 35th anniversary of the outbreak of civil war in Lebanon, rival leaders have put on a special football match. The game was between a side captained by the Lebanese Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, and one led by a leading figure from the Shia Hezbollah movement. The game was a non-too-serious affair however, as many spectators found the view of portly politicians swiftly running out of breath an amusing sight.

The game was held in Beirut’s main stadium in front of a carefully assembled collection of politicians and dignitaries and led one wag to comment that the players “…hit the ground more often than the ball”. The game was curtailed to a duration of thirty minutes, with both goals coming towards the end of the match. Each side contained members of both parties following the creation of a unity government at the end of last year. This ended five months of deadlock after the general election last summer.