 Baabda lay downhill on the Beirut-Aley-Damascus highway, and any militia forces advancing from the south had to pass through Souk El Gharb in order to get into the Beirut-Aley road.Moreover, Souk El Gharb controlled a ridge that overlooked the key East Beirut districts of Baabda and Yarze, where were located the Presidential Palace and the Lebanese Ministry of Defense complex, respectively.From that ridge, Druze PLA artillery units had a point-blank light of sight to those areas.