After nearly a week without airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a hotbed of the Shiite Hezbollah militia, Israel resumed its heavy attacks this weekend, hitting more buildings and several areas.
A dpa reporter who visited the area saw only the remains of buildings in the neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city.
“If you are lucky, your building is still there with massive damage. Most of the buildings are now a pile of rubble,” Samer, a resident of Choueifat on the southern outskirts of Beirut, told dpa.
On Saturday afternoon, Israeli army Arab spokesman Avichay Adraee warned that specific buildings marked on a map in Choueifat’s al-Oumara neighborhood would be hit.
The usual message Adraee posts on [Israel Defense Forces] will focus in the near future. For your safety and the safety of your family, you must evacuate this building and surrounding buildings immediately and stay at least 500 meters away.”
Shortly after the warning was received, loud explosions and black smoke covered the area. The area looked as if a hurricane had struck: within minutes, two buildings were reduced to rubble.
“Most areas have suffered enormous damage,” said Samer, who came on Sunday to inspect the damage to his home. “It feels like the Israelis want to punish us for living in or near Hezbollah-controlled areas,” he said.
Many residents, especially young men, come after each Israeli attack to check whether their houses or buildings are still standing.
“We use Vespas [Italian style mopeds] because it’s an easy way to get in and out to check things out and because the roads are filled with debris and broken glass,” he said.
Most residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs have already fled and are now displaced. They are currently sheltering in schools in central Beirut amid poor living conditions.
As night approaches, the devastated neighborhoods of Beirut’s southern suburbs are in complete darkness, without electricity or light.
Standing on a hill overlooking the areas, only an area can be seen pitch black, indicating that no one lives there anymore.
