Families spend 'long night' out in the open after Israeli strikes on Beirut

Residents fled with no time to spare as an avalanche of fire hit city's southern suburb

An explosion in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, during an Israeli air strike on Saturday, September 28. AP Photo

Rockets from Israel's Iron Dome air defence system over the city of Haifa on Friday September 27. Reuters

An early morning Israeli attack in south Beirut on September 28. AP Photo

Beirut residents flee the southern suburbs and gather in Martyrs' Square. EPA

Smoke is seen following strikes over Beirut's southern suburbs. Reuters

Smoke over south Beirut as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon, on September 28. Reuters

An Iranian demonstrator listens to news from Beirut during a gathering in support of Hezbollah at Felestin (Palestine) Square in Tehran on September 28. AP Photo

Ruins of a building in Dahieh, Beirut, on September 27 after what Israel called 'a precise strike on the central headquarters of the Hezbollah'. EPA

Israeli air defences in Upper Galilee, northern Israel, respond to rocket fire from southern Lebanon on September 27. EPA

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Ambulances attend to the injured following an Israel strike in Dahieh, south Beirut, on September 27. EPA

Lebanese forced from their homes on September 28 gather at Beirut's Martyrs' Square as Israel attacks the southern suburbs. Reuters

South Beirut as seen from Sin El Fil, Lebanon, on September 28. Reuters

An ambulance carries injured following an Israel strike in Dahieh, Beirut. EPA

Members of a family who fled Israeli bombardment on Beirut's southern suburbs with some of their belongings in Martyrs Square in the centre of the Lebanese capital on September 28. AFP

Lebanese citizens watch smoke rise from Israeli air strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut. AP Photo

Residents check the damaged in the aftermath of overnight Israeli bombardment in Beirut's southern suburbs, on September 28. Israel claimed its warplanes targeted Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. AFP

Beirut's southern suburbs after a night of Israeli attacks. AFP

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. AP Photo

Smoke rises from Israeli air strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs. AP Photo

A car sits in a crater in Beirut's southern suburbs. AP Photo

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Thousands of residents of the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh were forced to spend the night in the open – in parks and car parks, on the pavements of major thoroughfares, on the seaside corniche, and numerous other urban areas – after renewed Israeli strikes on the capital overnight into Saturday.

The Israeli army called on residents of Dahieh to leave areas “located near Hezbollah interests” after an air raid on a block of residential buildings Friday afternoon, on what the Israeli army said was an underground command and control centre sheltering Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The Israeli army claimed later that Nasrallah and other senior Hezbollah leaders had been killed, but Hezbollah has yet to comment.

In Beirut’s Tayouneh neighbourhood, families milled on the sidewalks of the busy roundabout awaiting Israel’s strikes. Some sat on cardboard boxes or blankets, while young men smoked water pipes and scrolled their phones for news. Others set their heads down on the dashboards of their motorbikes and tried to sleep.

Layla, who has two children, walked hurriedly across the square to meet her brother and his family in the park nearby. They planned on spending the night there “because the [government-sponsored] school shelters are not safe. I’m afraid Israel will do like it does in Gaza and start hitting the schools.”

At any rate, nearly every school shelter in Lebanon was at maximum capacity. “It’s going to be a long night,” she told The National. “After this, I don’t know where we’ll go.”

Volunteers walked along the road, distributing water and snacks. Fatima, an older woman in a black hijab, was huddled over her phone as she sat on the roadside kerb.

“I just hope the news of Sayyed Nasrallah being killed is not true. It can’t be,” she said, referring to the Hezbollah leader.

News of renewed Israeli bombardment on Dahieh began to spread. First, the strikes on the three sites that were threatened by the Israeli army. Then news of even more missiles hitting the suburb – more than 20 strikes in three hours.

A disembodied voice in the crowd claimed that the building housing the long-defunct Hawaii College in the neighbourhood of Hamra was preparing to accept displaced people. Fatima’s family and others who heard the unconfirmed news but hoped it was true immediately went in the direction of the college, hoping to avoid a night on the streets.

In Hamra, dozens of families waited at the gates of the college, but the entrance was chained shut. The group, carrying every worldly belonging they could grab in such short notice, milled around. Was the news wrong?

“We mentioned we would come to the site to investigate whether it was a place worth opening as a shelter. But we didn't know whether we'd open it and we didn't tell people to come,” a community organiser told The National.

“The place is dust-infested. There are insects. There’s no electricity. The bathrooms aren’t good. It's not a suitable place to shelter people,” he added.

But it was too late; word was out. With nowhere else to go, the crowd persisted. Eventually, the gates of the university were reopened.

People slowly filed inside. Tomorrow, after a night’s rest, they would worry about the future. Tomorrow, their homes might still be standing. Or they might not.