It feels like summer at Beirut's famous Sporting Beach Club.
A middle-aged woman emerges from the pool, wraps herself in a towel and makes her way to a sunbed strategically placed on a boulder facing Raouche's landmark Pigeon Rocks. A few steps behind her, four men take their usual spot. Two sit savouring the Mediterranean views and munching on carrots, while the other pair crouch over a backgammon board.
"Dawrak," one of them says, meaning "your turn".
His friend rolls the dice and stares intently at the board, carefully considering his next move. Their friend, a mere observer, chuckles as he takes a long draw from his cigar. "We've been coming here for more than 30 years," Fadel El Souri, 67, tells The National. "There's nowhere else we'd rather be".
From diplomats and politicians to artists and journalists, the Beiruti beach club has welcomed pe
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