Grapevine

Beirut’s southern suburbs reduced to rubble by Israeli strikes

In Beirut’s southern suburbs on Wednesday, smoke was rising from buildings hit by overnight strikes while young men on mopeds sped along largely empty roads and residents grabbed what they could from their homes, some driving off with mattresses tied to car roofs.

Mohammed Sheaito, 31, one of the few not leaving, said that “during the night, the ground shook below us … and the sky lit up” from the force of the strikes.

“The area has become a ghost town,” said the taxi driver, who has sent his parents, his sister and her children – already displaced by Israeli bombing in south Lebanon – to safety elsewhere.

An area of tightly packed blocks of flats, shops and businesses, Beirut’s southern suburbs are also home to Hezbollah’s main institutions.

Israel says it is targeting sites belonging to the Iran-backed militant group, which was founded during the Lebanese civil war after Israel besieged the city in 1982.