Baalbeck Festival 2013 Postponed and Relocated

On Friday, the organizing committee for the Baalbeck International Festival announced it is changing the venue of this year’s big event, citing the spillover of violence from Syria.

“As as result of the security situation, we cannot organise the festival in the temple this year,” the festival’s press office told AFP news.

Organizers told Beirut.com the new festival location is set to take place at La Magnanerie in Jdeideh. Additionally, the festival was supposed to happen on June 30, but has been delayed until August 9.

This comes amid news that the festival’s headlining act, American soprano Renee Fleming, cancelled her scheduled performance in Baalbeck, saying “the deteriorating security conditions” were to blame.

Tensions along the Syrian-Lebanese border have soared in recent weeks, as Hezbollah continues to aid Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his ongoing effort to put down a two-year revolt against his regime. In early June, six shells from the Syrian side of the border hit towns in Akkar, north Lebanon, the Daily Star newspaper reported.

More recently, four men were killed in a reported ambush in the border town of Qasr.

All this comes amid an outbreak of violence in the port city of Saida on Sunday. At least 12 soldiers were killed in clashes with supporters of hardline Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir.