Tensions Rise as Life Resumes in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs

Lebanese army vehicles and security forces alongside Saleh al-Arouri’s assassination site in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Lebanese army vehicles and security forces alongside Saleh al-Arouri’s assassination site in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Tensions Rise as Life Resumes in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs

Lebanese army vehicles and security forces alongside Saleh al-Arouri’s assassination site in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Lebanese army vehicles and security forces alongside Saleh al-Arouri’s assassination site in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Habib Baidoun, an 82-year-old shoemaker, carefully sweeps glass in front of his shoe store in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon.

He observes journalists and official visitors arriving at the site where Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri was assassinated.

“We miraculously survived,” he tells Asharq Al-Awsat, pointing to the shattered glass and stones from the building where he resides after the explosions.

Baidoun clears the debris, reopens his shop, just like dozens of other businesses near the targeted site.

Baidoun is one of hundreds startled by the sudden blast near the northern suburb entrance.

However, none of them possess a complete narrative or confirmed information about what happened, despite all witnesses agreeing they heard simultaneous explosions, prompting a large portion of residents to evacuate their nearby homes “fearing Israeli airstrikes might have begun.”

Locals report that traffic congestion reached unprecedented levels after the attack on exit routes towards Beirut city, approximately 5 kilometers away, fearing the explosions might precede consecutive bombings.

Life goes on for residents at the explosion site, despite the closure of the street to vehicles by the Lebanese army and civil defense, transforming it into an evidence collection area.

Next to the targeted location, two sweet shops and a tobacco store have reopened their doors, with customers entering and exiting as usual.

The shelling did not cause significant damage to the stores or destroy the buildings, reinforcing the belief that it was precise and sophisticated enough to hit the targets under the roofs without causing major destruction.

Returning residents to the area on Wednesday morning express conflicting emotions.

Some believe that the danger has passed “once we learned it was an assassination,”
suggesting “no consequences or continued airstrikes.”

Others, however, cannot hide their concern about the area turning into an open field for Israeli airstrikes for the first time in at least four years, since the Israeli drone explosion in the Maaouad area in August 2019.



Israel’s Army Says It Will Fire Air Force Reservists Who Condemned Gaza War

An Israeli army vehicle moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
An Israeli army vehicle moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
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Israel’s Army Says It Will Fire Air Force Reservists Who Condemned Gaza War

An Israeli army vehicle moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)
An Israeli army vehicle moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP)

Israel's military said Friday it will fire air force reservists who signed an open letter that condemns the war in Gaza for only serving political interests instead of bringing the hostages home.

In a statement to The Associated Press, an army official said there was no room for any individual, including reservists on active duty, “to exploit their military status while simultaneously participating in the fighting,” calling the letter a breach of trust between commanders and subordinates.

The army said it had decided that any active reservist who signed the letter will not be able to continue serving. It did not specify how many people that included or if the firings had begun.

Nearly 1,000 Israeli Air Force reservists and retirees signed the letter, published in Israeli media Thursday, demanding the immediate return of the hostages, even at the cost of ending the fighting.

The letter comes as Israel ramps up its offensive in Gaza, trying to pressure Hamas to agree to free hostages, 59 of whom are still being held, more than half of which are dead. Israel's imposed a blockade on food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle. It has pledged to seize large parts of the Palestinian territory and establish a new security corridor through it.

While the soldiers who signed the letter didn’t refuse to keep serving, it’s part of a growing number of Israeli soldiers speaking out against the 18-month conflict, some saying they saw or did things that crossed ethical lines.

“It’s completely illogical and irresponsible on behalf of the Israeli policy makers ... risking the lives of the hostages, risking the lives of more soldiers and risking lives of many, many more innocent Palestinians, while it had a very clear alternative,” Guy Poran, a retired Israeli Air Force pilot who spearhead the letter told The AP.

He said he's not aware of anyone who signed the letter being fired, and since it was published, it has gained dozens more signatures.

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed the letter on Friday, saying it was written by a “small handful of weeds, operated by foreign-funded NGOs whose sole goal is to overthrow the right-wing government.” He said anyone who encourages refusal will be immediately dismissed.

Soldiers are required to steer clear of politics, and they rarely speak out against the army. After Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel quickly united behind the war launched against the group. Divisions here have grown as the war progresses, but most criticism has focused on the mounting number of soldiers killed and the failure to bring home hostages, not actions in Gaza.

The war in Gaza shows no signs of slowing.

Since Israel ended an eight-week ceasefire last month, it said it will push further into Gaza until Hamas releases the hostages. More than 1,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire collapsed, according to the United Nations.

The Israeli military on Friday issued an urgent warning to residents in several neighborhoods in northern Gaza, calling on them to evacuate immediately. At least 26 people have been killed and more than 100 others wounded in the last 24 hours, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Palestinians lined up at a charity kitchen Friday in central Gaza said shortages of food, fuel and other essentials are worsening.

“There is no flour or gas or wood. Everything is expensive and there is no money," said Reem Oweis, a displaced woman from al-Mughraqa in south Gaza, waiting in line for a serving of rice, the only food available.

“I completely rely on charity kitchens. If those charity kitchens close, my children and I will die,” said another displace woman, Nema Faragallah.

Also this week, Brazil's Embassy in the West Bank said it had requested the immediate release of the body of a 17-year-old Palestinian prisoner who died in Israeli custody.

A representative from Brazil's office in Ramallah, told the AP it was helping the family speed up the process to bring Walid Ahmad's body home. Ahmad had a Brazilian passport.

According to an Israeli doctor who observed the autopsy, starvation was likely the primary cause of his death.

Ahmad had been held for six months without being charged. He was extremely malnourished and also showed signs of inflammation of the colon and scabies, said a report written by Dr. Daniel Solomon, who watched the autopsy, conducted by Israeli experts, at the request of the boy’s family.

Israel’s prison service said it operates according to the law and all prisoners are given basic rights.