Photo: Hussein Malla Associated Press At the foot of the building with its torn floors, curious people gathered from the early hours of the day. On the ground, the rubble remained.
Mohammad (fictitious first name) pulls a large pink suitcase behind him. His black t-shirt is bleached by dust so thick that it seems impossible to remove. With drawn faces, the man hurries to his car, parked further down the street, behind the barriers put in place to limit access to the area. He opens the trunk of his vehicle and stacks his luggage on top of other suitcases already stored. He closes it and returns to the ruined building.
The Beirutis lives in the residential building struck by Israel on July 30 at 7:40 p.m. The attack on the building in Beirut's southern suburbs targeted Fouad Chokr, a military adviser to Hezbollah, which Israel accuses of being responsible for the deadly shooting into the annexed Golan on July 27. The Israeli attack killed at least five civilians, three women and two children, and wounded more than 70 others, according to Lebanon's Public Health Ministry.
At the foot of the building with its floors torn off, curious onlookers gathered from the early hours of the morning. On the ground, the rubble remained. The cars were covered in a thick white blanket and pieces of concrete. Civil Defense teams were busy cleaning up the rubble and loading it into a dump truck. Rescuers and firefighters were still present. Onlookers, for their part, continued to comment on the situation in front of a crowd of journalists on the lookout for the slightest image or reaction, but wisely guarded by a security perimeter set up by Hezbollah.
Adnan (fictitious first name) was standing near the square reserved for journalists. He had come to see the damage from the explosion. The 29-year-old man lives a kilometer from here. “I was at home when it happened.” There was a noise at first, but it wasn’t like the fireworks we’re used to… Then the explosion, then a second one. I immediately thought it was an Israeli attack. Given the situation, we were expecting something.”
Around him, Hezbollah men control the comings and goings of people within the security perimeter. “Hezbollah knows what it has to do… The genocide in Gaza should be stopped for all this to stop,” continues Adnan, who does not want to say whether he is a member of the Party of God.
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For Hayat Abdallah Termos, a resident of the neighborhood, Hezbollah is one of the main actors capable of protecting Lebanon today. The party has the right to defend itself, according to her. But to what extent, the chemical engineer cannot say. “I don’t think this will lead us to a large-scale war. The Israelis are dangerous, but not very courageous, and they know that Hezbollah will know how to defend itself,” judges the young woman, who recently graduated from the American University of Beirut.
Another resident of the southern suburbs, Georgette, has been living in fear since the attack. “I stay at home because I’m afraid… But in the end, it’s God who will decide what will happen.” “For the moment, however, she is not thinking about moving,” explains this mother, contacted by telephone, whose apartment was completely destroyed by Israeli raids during the war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
Among the testimonies, many are urging Western countries to change their attitude towards the Jewish state. “All we need is for Western countries to be more civilized and to apply sanctions against Israel,” says Hayat Abdallah Termos.
“In Lebanon, it’s routine!”
Outside the security perimeter, two shopkeepers set up their storefronts. With broad smiles on their faces, they explain that they do not wish to be interviewed. Despite the sadness of having seen civilians killed, for them this attack is part of everyday life. One of them says: “We have been living this kind of situation since 1975 [the official start of the Lebanese civil war, which lasted until 1990]. In Lebanon, it’s routine!”
For Linda (who only wants to give her first name), a Canadian who has lived in northern Beirut for three years with her Lebanese husband and children, this attack does not mean all-out war. “I think if I didn’t have Lebanese family or Lebanese friends, yes, I would be very scared. But we live in a neighborhood that will not be attacked by Israel.”
Joseph Daher, a political analyst and Hezbollah specialist, emphasizes that the situation remains worrying for the region. For him, the escalation will now depend on Hezbollah’s response. “Hezbollah has to save face in part, because it is a violent action on the part of Israel, not because of its nature, even though there were civilians killed, but because of the location: in Beirut, in the neighborhoods under strong Hezbollah influence,” he explains.
While another Israeli strike (in Tehran, Iran, targeting the leader of Hamas) keeps the region under high tension, the funerals of little Hassan and Amira Fadlallah, found entwined under the rubble, according to the daily newspaper L’Orient-le-Jour, and victims of a war that is beyond their control, took place in the capital. Mohammad, for his part, has finished packing up his belongings to move to another apartment not far from the attack. While waiting, perhaps, for news.