Dahieh destruction: 'This is where they killed him, son'

Beirut's southern suburb has been emptied of its residents after Israel's massive air campaign on Lebanon

The site of Israeli air strikes on September 29 in Beirut, Lebanon. Getty Images)

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A group of mourners gathered to pray at the massive crater where six residential buildings once stood before an Israeli raid took out the entire block last week, in an attack that killed Hezbollah’s revered leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Others have returned to the scene to pick through their belongings in the rubble of what was once their homes.

The site is the only place where groups congregate in the now-deserted Beirut suburb of Dahieh. In the absence of a funeral, the crater has become a place to commemorate Mr Nasrallah and others who died in the vicious air raid that suddenly thundered throughout Beirut and its surroundings on Friday.

The insistent whirr of an Israeli drone over the site was constant, reminding the defiant residents of the danger posed by their presence near the ruins.

Three days later, plumes of smoke still billowed from the site.

"This is where they killed him, son," a father told a child of about 10, gesturing to the centre of the deep pit.

A separate group that had gathered to pay their respects huddled together. A man told his friend: "He died for his country. May God bless him."

The scene was cordoned off by security forces, but they allowed residents to return to the site of the strike to try to retrieve their belongings. A woman carried an intact television set away from the smouldering ruins of what was once a six-storey apartment, leaving the cordoned area. A man balanced a colossal bag of belongings on a small motorbike.

An old man sat on the pavement, gazing at a tattered doll that he clenched in his hands, which were dirty from sifting through soot and rubble.

Mourners told each other stories. They'd come to commiserate and commune. How did the missiles manage to pierce so far below ground they killed the seemingly impenetrable Nasrallah, who for the past three decades had projected the image of strength and fortitude?

A passer-by told another what he had seen a few days ago: A young man carefully searching through rubble, carefully scanning a mess of concrete, corrugated iron and torn clothing. Eventually, security pulled him aside to ask what he was doing. It caused the man to collapse in tears.

"I'm searching for my daughter," he wailed as the security guards tried to calm him.

It is not yet known what the death toll from the Israeli raid was. But the scene from the blast, with a crater that looks to be at least 100 metres deep and every building in the block's periphery badly damaged, gives the impression of steep casualties.

The mourners are among very few people seen in Beirut's once-densely populated southern suburbs. Now the area is an unrecognisable ghost town after days of intense Israeli bombardment.

Hezbollah, fearing security breaches, has forbidden journalists – or anyone, for that matter – from taking photos or conducting interviews in the suburb.

A drive through Dahieh reveals scenes of sporadic destruction: A charred and blackened building, partially destroyed apartment blocks, shattered windows, bits of iron fallen into the streets.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon the past two weeks and displaced up to a million, according to government figures. At least 105 people were killed throughout various parts of Lebanon on Sunday alone.

The Israeli army says it is striking hundreds of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon to cripple the militant group in an effort to safely return its northern residents to their homes. In the process, it has managed to kill much of the group's senior leadership.

The assassination of Nasrallah, who was adored by his supporters but also faced fierce opposition in other facets of Lebanese society, has shocked a country that does not know what will happen next.

Israel has consistently threatened to launch a ground invasion, especially in the days after Nasrallah's death, leading to fears that one may be imminent.

“Everything has stopped since Hassan Nasrallah died,” said an 18-year-old resident of the Chiyah neighbourhood who has chosen to remain in his home despite his parents' wishes.