In Dahiyerifles are sometimes used to ensure security. A flurry of shots has a more than obvious message for the residents of the southern suburbs of Beirut: “flee.” This Thursday the ammunition has run out on several occasions because the Israeli Army has launched a unprecedented evacuation order about the area. More than 700.000 personas They have been forced to leave four suburban municipalities immediately. With each volley of shots, the panic was taking its toll on a population accustomed to the forced displacement of Israel. The horror has soon spread to the entire capital, where the roads have collapsed in a way never seen before, forcing many people to flee on foot.
“This is a complete madness“says Mohammad to himself as he maneuvers out of Dahiye. He drives in the wrong direction, dodges motorcycles, accelerates, swerves. Anything to get out of Dahiye. Originally from southern Lebanon, he lived for 30 years of his life in the southern suburbs of Beirut. The previous war motivated him to leave his lifelong neighborhood for safety. But his parents are still there. “Just yesterday These shots in the air saved my parents’ lives.“, he tells EL PERIÓDICO with the calm of a person who knows what he is doing, a young man who knows these shortcuts by heart. “When at seven in the morning Israel announced that it would bomb a building on their street, the warning shots allowed them to evacuate and they have not returned,” he explains.
A building destroyed by Israeli bombs in Ghobeiry, a neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut. / AFP
Ghost of the occupation
Mohammad’s final destination is a hill not too far from the threatened area from which to see how the Israelis carry out their threat. Along with his fellow journalists, this young man from Dahiye is a victim and narrator of the tragedy of his town. “What they are doing has no name“says his friend Fouratwhile expanding the map shared by the Israeli Army spokesperson, Avichay Adraeein your X account to alert you of evacuations. “It looks like a real estate plan“, he tells this newspaper. The ghost of the Israeli occupation has returned stronger than ever to Lebanon. The memory hits Mohammad while fleeing from Dahiye. During his childhood, he had to cross Israeli checkpoints to reach his family’s village. For the first 10 years of his life he was not able to visit it. “It was in Nabatiyathe city where my mother is from, where I saw a child die for the first time,” he recalls, traveling to that southern inland city, now also subjected to Israeli bombings.
In the south of the country, the Fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants They have intensified for two days. The neighboring Army already occupies five strategic points on the border, violating the ceasefire that came into force in November 2024. Since the start of the war this Monday, just four days ago, reality changes by the moment. So far, 102 people have died and 638 have been injured. This Wednesday the Israeli military authorities ordered the evacuation of all cities and towns south of the Litani Riverin southern Lebanon. This involves the forced displacement of some 250.000 personas. Just 24 hours later, they have taken a further step by asking residents of all the southern suburbs of Beirut to leave the place around 2:30 p.m. local time on Thursday (1:30 p.m. Spanish peninsular time). In this case, the order affects about 700,000 residents. In total, practically a million people forced to leave their homes from one moment to the next.
Residents in the southern suburbs of Beirut leave their homes following the Israeli Army’s evacuation order. / AFP
some stay
Many of those who fled first took refuge in the capital, but now even Beirut is not safe from Israeli bombs. Not everyone has decided to flee their homes in the neighborhoods of Chiyah, Burj al Barajneh, Haret Hreik and Hadathall of them in the southern suburbs. The absence of anywhere else to go inspires them to defy Israeli threats. Many people who, since Monday, have tried to leave southern Lebanon after spending up to 14 hours on the road have returned to their homesbecause they have not found refuge. The schools opened by the Government are full and for many of these families it is unaffordable to rent another house. Many others are sleeping in their cars. Furthermore, Israel has already begun attacking buildings that housed displaced people in areas without Hezbollah influence. The feeling that they are not safe anywhere only expands. Therefore, many people They prefer to die at home. It is their form of resistance.
The Israeli Army’s announcement is unprecedented. Even during the fall war of 2024 in Lebanon, There has never been an evacuation order so massive that it covered entire neighborhoods indiscriminately. “Residents of the Burj el Barajneh and Hadath neighborhoods: please go east, towards Mount Lebanon, along the Beirut-Damascus highway,” Adraee wrote in rare in these types of orders. “Residents of the Haret Hreik and Chiyah neighborhoods: you should go north, towards Tripoli, along the Beirut-Tripoli highway, and east, towards Mount Lebanon, along the Metn highway,” he added. “Any movement to the south could endanger their lives,” he said, emphasizing that the Israeli Army “will inform them of the appropriate time to return to their homes.” “Very soon Dahiye will look like Khan Yunis“, celebrated the Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrichfrom the Israeli border.
Israeli bombing in the southern suburbs of Beirut. / ABDUL KADER AL BAY / CONTACT / EUROPA PRESS
Help Macron
From the top of a hill in the town of Baap with views over Dahiye, about 250 meters from the Spanish embassy in LebanonMohammad and Fourat denounce the inaction of your government. “This is also part of Lebanon, these threatened people are also Lebanese, so [los líderes políticos] “They should do something,” denounces Fourat, perched on a stool to capture the impact of the Israeli bombs with his camera. The Lebanese president, Joseph Aounhas asked his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron“to intervene so that the southern suburbs are not attacked, following the threats from the Israeli Army,” the presidency indicated in X. “For Lebanon, we must act; we must do everything possible to prevent this country, so close to Franceis dragged back into war,” Macron said in X.
“At this time of great danger, I ask the Israeli Prime Minister [Binyamín Netanyahu] what do not extend the war to Lebanon“added the French president. Over Beirut, it has already fallen. Mohammad and Fourat have been joined by dozens of curious onlookers who are looking at the horizon waiting for an enemy projectile to fall. “What else can we do?” they defend. A group of young people has lit a bonfire as long as Dahiye does not burn. There are not many lights on in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, although there is still smoke that emerges from the attacks of the morning, or the day before. With cameras around their necks, young Lebanese wait to take a snapshot of the landscape before the devastation. Only when a plane from the national company takes off in the middle of the smoke does the sound of gunshots follow, capturing the flight of their fellow citizens.
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