Lebanese Return to Beirut’s Southern Suburbs with Bags Packed for Quick Exit

A resident films his home in a building hit by airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs (AP)
A resident films his home in a building hit by airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs (AP)
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Lebanese Return to Beirut’s Southern Suburbs with Bags Packed for Quick Exit

A resident films his home in a building hit by airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs (AP)
A resident films his home in a building hit by airstrikes in Beirut’s southern suburbs (AP)

Nour Hammoud and her family live in constant fear as Israel issues warnings to residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs, after deciding to return to their home in Ghobeiry, an area frequently hit by Israeli airstrikes.

“We’d rather die in our home than suffer humiliation outside of it,” says the young woman in her twenties.

She describes the difficult decision faced by her family and others who, despite the risks, have returned to their homes.

Many, including her family, rely on the alerts from Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee on X (formerly Twitter), where targeted buildings are announced shortly before they are attacked. Families often leave after each warning, only to return when it is safe.

For some, the return is driven by financial hardship, as they can’t afford rent or find safer places.

For the Hammouds, however, the decision was prompted by increasing harassment, especially toward her younger brothers, in the area they had fled to in Mount Lebanon.

“Security checks were becoming more intense, with authorities scrutinizing my brothers’ identities whenever they left or entered,” she explained.

This increased pressure follows attacks on Hezbollah-linked individuals in areas outside the southern suburbs, previously considered safe. This has caused fear and hostility in host communities, impacting displaced families.

After a month in a rented house in Mount Lebanon, the Hammoud family returned to the southern suburb, which has been calm in recent days despite being bombed five days earlier.

Speaking by phone amid the sound of Israeli drones overhead, Hammoud said: “We came back ten days ago, cleaned our house, bought what we could from the market to avoid going out too much, and packed small bags with essentials. We wait for the warnings to leave again.”

The beach has become their refuge.

“After each warning, we go to the beach, wait for the bombing to stop, then return to our home, hoping it’s still standing,” she added.

Asked about living in constant fear in a neighborhood almost destroyed by repeated strikes, Hammoud replied: “We’re not afraid. It’s better to die in our homes than to live in shame. Whatever is meant for us will happen... We either win, which we believe in, or we become martyrs.”

As the war continues, estimates from Mohammad Shamseddine at Information International suggest that 240 buildings have been destroyed in the southern suburbs, with 360 more partially damaged, affecting around 12,000 housing units in neighborhoods like Haret Hreik, Lailaki, Jamous, and Ghobeiry.

While the Hammoud family can afford rent, many others are unable to find safe places to stay.

Um Mohammad, another displaced woman, says she and her family were asked to leave a school in Beirut where they had taken refuge. With schools reopening, they were told to vacate by Thursday.

Although the private school director in Ain el-Remmaneh who hosted them did all he could to help, Um Mohammad told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The decision has been made, and we have to leave.”

“Our problem is that we have nowhere else to go. If the situation doesn’t improve, my sick husband, son, and I will return to Chiyah in the southern suburbs, just like many other families,” she added.



Israel Strikes on Lebanon Kill 38 People around Baalbek, Governor Says

People and rescuers try to put out a fire at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a densely populated neighborhood in Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek on November 6, 2024. (AFP)
People and rescuers try to put out a fire at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a densely populated neighborhood in Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek on November 6, 2024. (AFP)
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Israel Strikes on Lebanon Kill 38 People around Baalbek, Governor Says

People and rescuers try to put out a fire at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a densely populated neighborhood in Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek on November 6, 2024. (AFP)
People and rescuers try to put out a fire at the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a densely populated neighborhood in Lebanon's eastern city of Baalbek on November 6, 2024. (AFP)

Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed at least 38 people around the eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley on Wednesday, according to the regional governor, and at dusk more strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs.

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have exchanged fire for over a year in parallel with the Gaza war but fighting has escalated since late September, with Israeli troops intensifying bombing on swathes of Lebanon's south and east and making ground incursions into border villages.

Around 40 Israeli strikes on the Baalbek-Hermel governorate killed 38 people and wounded 54, governor Bachir Khodr said on X. The Israeli military did not comment.

Israeli strikes have also battered Hezbollah strongholds in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut. At least four strikes targeted the area on Wednesday after the Israeli military ordered residents to evacuate from several locations.

There was no immediate report on casualties or details on what was hit. The attack happened shortly after Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said he did not believe that "political action" would bring about an end to hostilities.

He said there could be a road to indirect negotiations if Israel stopped its attacks.

"When the enemy decides to stop the aggression, there is a path for negotiations that we have clearly defined - indirect negotiations through the Lebanese state and Speaker (of parliament Nabih) Berri," Qassem said.

US diplomatic efforts to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which included a 60-day ceasefire proposal, faltered last week ahead of the US election on Tuesday in which former President Donald Trump recaptured the White House.

RESCUERS DIG FOR SURVIVORS

Israeli attacks in Lebanon killed at least 37 people and wounded 105 on Tuesday, bringing the total to 3,050 deaths and 13,658 injuries since October 2023, the Lebanese health ministry said on Wednesday.

Lebanese rescuers scoured a destroyed apartment building in the town of Barja south of Beirut for bodies or any survivors after an Israeli strike on Tuesday evening that killed 20 people there, Lebanon's health ministry said.

Moussa Zahran, who lived on one of the upper floors of the building, returned to sift through the ruins of his home. His burned feet were wrapped in gauze and his son and wife were in hospital after being wounded in the strike.

"These rocks that you see here weigh 100 kilos, they fell on a 13-kilo kid," he said, referring to his son and the apartment wall that had collapsed onto him during the strike.

It was not clear if the strike targeted a member of Hezbollah. There was no evacuation warning ahead of the air raid.

Hezbollah said on Wednesday it had fired missiles at an Israeli military base near Ben Gurion Airport. Israeli media reported a rocket had landed near the airport.

Later, the Israeli military said dozens of "projectiles" had crossed into Israel from Lebanon, some of which were intercepted.

Efforts to bring a diplomatic end to the conflict have stalled. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday appointed Israel Katz as his new defense minister, who vowed to defeat Hezbollah so that people displaced from northern Israel could return home.

Berri - a Hezbollah ally and diplomatic interlocutor - met the US and Saudi ambassadors to Lebanon on Wednesday to discuss political developments, his office said, without providing further details.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister meanwhile congratulated the "president elect" in the US, without naming Donald Trump.

Netanyahu hailed Trump's election, while senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Trump would be tested on his statements that he can stop the Gaza war in hours as president.