Barbir Checkpoint -

Lebanese Checkpoint

The Barbir checkpoint was located on the “green line” separating East Beirut from West Beirut. It was initially created in the late 1975’s and remained active on and off until it was finally removed at the very end of the war on 22 October 1989. It was controlled throughout the years by armed men from the PLO, the Mourabitoun, the Amal movement and the Communist party. Facing it a few hundred meters away was the Mathaf Checkpoint (National museum). The Mathaf-Barbir crossing was one of the rare passageways where people could traverse from one side of the city to the other during times of truce. Because of its strategic location along the front, the crossing and its surroundings became the site of rampant killings and kidnappings as well as skirmishes between militias and various nations’ armies struggling for its control.