On a recent Wednesday, an abundance of journalists, primarily dressed in flak jackets and ballistic helmets, came together at the Hizbullah-managed media excursion. The extremist faction and political party offered infrequent access to the southern suburbs of Beirut. Areas that have been principally unreachable during the previous two weeks of severe Israeli air strikes on Lebanon due to restrictions imposed by Hizbullah and risk of assaults.
These bombings usually occur nocturnally and can be heard throughout the whole of the capital, but have predominantly been focused in the Dahiyeh area. Sometimes advance notices come from the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), on other occasions, there are none.
Typically, Dahiyeh is home to nearly a million inhabitants. However, it appeared deserted as a procession of vehicles and motorcycles navigated between three locations chosen by members of Hizbullah. Journalists were taken to observe entire buildings that had been demolished, with smoke ascending from two of these sites.
Throughout the route connecting these stops, several buildings remained untouched. Yet, evidence of damaged civilian lives was apparent, contradicting Israel’s claim of targeting only Hizbullah locations and structures. Features such as a bookcase visible in a second-floor flat without an external wall, a shop sign dangled with its electrical wiring exposed, and a gym with its equipment veiled in a thick layer of white dust.
During the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah, this region experienced considerable destruction when over 1,100 Lebanese inhabitants were killed, and approximately one million displaced, according to Human Rights Watch. This conflict led to the emergence of the so-called ‘Dahiyeh doctrine,’ established by Gadi Eizenkot, Israel’s northern command leader and later IDF chief of staff. He proposed “the application of overwhelming power against any village from which Israel is attacked and infliction of considerable damage and destruction. In our eyes, these are military bases… Not a proposal but a pre-approved plan.”
In the years following, Dahiyeh transformed into a hustling, bustling area. Suddenly, it’s eerily silent again with former inhabitants sharing their difficulties of evacuation at short notice; one struggled to convince an elderly, disabled parent to leave their home, another mentioned the daunting task of transporting his collection of 10 cats. Even the Lebanese military checkpoints in Dahiyeh have been deserted.
Lebanese officials have reported that approximately 1.2 million individuals have been displaced throughout the country, representing a significant percentage of Lebanon’s 5.2 million populace. The long-standing leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, was assassinated on 27th September in Dahiyeh through a series of air raids involving large tonnage “bunker buster” bombs. The aftermath saw entire apartment blocks reduced to rubble, with the impact reverberating throughout the city.
Unusually, the site of Nasrallah’s death was not part of the Hezbollah-organised media tour, even though his life was commemorated on numerous posters throughout Dahiyeh, where reporters had authorised access. These posters hailed him as a “martyr leader” and included text expressing adoration: “may Allah be gratified with him”.
Support for the organisation and its late leader was expressed by Hezbollah representatives at different intervals. One individual climbed atop debris, proclaiming, “Our allegiance belongs to you, Nasrallah”. Several of the tour guides opted to keep surgical masks on their faces.
Attempting to underscore Hezbollah’s contention that only civilian infrastructures were targeted and no weaponry was stored in them, the head of Hezbollah’s media relations, Mohammed Afif, made a bold appearance. The succeeding day witnessed an airstrike on a building used by Hezbollah as a media relations office.
In contrasting sections of Beirut, numerous inhabitants had felt secure up until now, finding solace in the notion that they resided in areas where followers of Hezbollah – who are mostly Shia Muslims – did not make up the majority. However, as Dahiyeh continues to experience ongoing air raids – the effects denoted by large smoke clouds soaring on Thursday – it has been observed that Israeli attacks are intensifying and broadening. Indeed, an initial strike this week was alarmingly close to Beirut’s bustling Kola intersection, a popular boarding point for taxis and buses used by locals for countrywide travel.
During the early morning hours of Thursday, a medical centre in Bachoura suffered a direct hit from another offensive, a mere stone’s throw away from the Lebanese parliament, a United Nations head office for the region, and a slew of western embassies. The location was also near to Martyrs’ Square, a refuge for civilians who had had to leave their homes in Dahiyeh and Southern Lebanon and were now sleeping in the open streets. In this solitary attack, nine people lost their lives and another 14 were injured, as reported by the Lebanese health department. The same department said they were still working on DNA testing in order to identify some of the bodies recovered. Every evening there is a sense of unease amongst the residents of Beirut, as they are forced to contemplate where the next attack could be and to imagine which parts of their city may resemble the current state of Dahiyeh.