Once in Beirut, Azar became a news photographer, covering the Lebanese War as a stringer for the Associated Press (AP), United Press International (UPI) and later for the French photo agency, Gamma. From 1981 to 1989 Azar chronicled the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the destruction of the U.S. Marine compound, the civil insurrection in West Beirut, the vicious inter-factional war among the Palestinians in North Lebanon, The Druze-Maronite war in the Chouf mountains and the Syrian siege of Mount Lebanon.