What I saw in Dahiehpublished at 12:00 British Summer Time
Sally Nabil
BBC Arabic, reporting from Dahieh, Beirut
As we got into Dahieh in
southern Beirut, it felt tense.
Many shops were closed, and huge pictures of
senior Hezbollah leaders, recently killed in Israeli airstrikes, could be seen
in many streets.
Over the past days Dahieh, a Hezbollah
stronghold, has been a target for Israeli air raids. Overnight Israeli shelling was intense, it could be heard in central Beirut.
As we
drove by, we could easily spot the damage that befell many areas in this
largely Shia neighbourhood. Buildings were partially or totally reduced to
rubble and cars were smashed.
Shortly before launching
their air strikes, the Israelis usually ask residents in some parts of Dahieh to flee their homes.
“The Israelis issue a warning, then ten minutes later the
shelling starts – how on earth can we leave for safety?” one resident in Dahieh asks me.
No one knows how things will
unfold after Israel announced the beginning of a ground incursion.
But any escalation will,
definitely, come with a high human cost, in a country that has been
struggling for years with a failing economy and a stagnant political life.
In the heart of
the capital, I meet a Lebanese family which fled Dahieh in recent days. They’ve
been living in the street since then.
They say they don’t want to go to a
centre for the displaced, because such places are packed.
“I just wish I could have a shower,” the mother tells me.