aLi Daher first heard the explosion, then felt pain. Israeli military planes loitering overhead fired two rockets into the building next door, causing the top two floors to collapse and showering him and his two sons with deadly spray of concrete and jagged metal.
The attack targeted the Dar al-Salam hotel (Arabic for “House of Peace”) in the southern Lebanese town of Wardhaniyah, which had been forced to flee its homes by Israeli bombing in recent weeks. It was converted into a government shelter for 24 families. . Originally a German-Lebanese center established to promote cultural understanding, bronze statues and Lebanese antiquities were sidelined to make room for mattresses and boxes of relief supplies. .
The October 9 airstrike killed five people and injured 12 others. It was the first time Wardaniya had been an Israeli target, but it was the latest in a series of Israeli airstrikes against buildings housing some displaced people in Lebanon that were considered safe. Otherwise I have never seen combat.
“We wanted to go somewhere safe, without bombing or war. [militias]that's why I came here. Why did they attack here? We don’t know,” said Ali Daher, a 36-year-old demining operator who was evacuated from Tire in southern Lebanon on September 30. He held out his broken wrist and pointed to the bandaged arm of his 1-year-old son Kareem, torn by shrapnel.
The effects are also being felt in Lebanese society, with local officials saying fear of the strikes has led to widespread conflict between members of the country's many sects and displaced people, mostly Shiite Muslims, who are afraid to welcome them. He says it is increasing tensions between the two countries. Unconfirmed rumors are circulating that Hezbollah fighters are hiding among the displaced population, although the majority of them are civilians.
More than 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon last year, most of them since September 23, when Israel escalated widespread airstrikes on the country. Many have taken refuge in Christian and Druze-majority areas that had previously escaped Israeli bombing.
“We are still scared and can barely hear. We are very tired. We have started taking medication to calm our nerves,” Daher said. The loud sound of an Israeli military jet breaking through the sound barrier caused ripples, and he grimaced as he spoke. As Kareem waited in the stroller, he said, “Wait for the next one,” and pointed one finger toward the sky, hoping for a second sonic boom.
Lebanon's painful history of sectarian violence, which began in 1970 and saw a 15-year civil war waged between rapidly changing sectarian alliances, makes the threat of new intercommunal fighting particularly worrying. are.
Monday's strike in the Christian-majority town of Aitu in northern Lebanon killed 21 people living in houses rented to displaced people, but for the most part there have been no other strikes in the area. Similarly, the September 28 attack on the town of Badaran in the Druze-majority Shuf district, which left eight people dead, is the only time Israel has attacked this town.
Lebanon's deadliest attack since the war began took place on September 29 in the Saida suburb of Ain el Derb, killing 71 people after displaced families moved into an apartment complex. Died. It was the first time the town had come under Israeli artillery fire.
Israel has not yet commented on the attack on buildings housing displaced people, but has previously said its military operations in Lebanon are aimed at targeting Hezbollah fighters, facilities and weapons depots. .
Ali Breem, the mayor of Wardhaniya, said the aim of such attacks against displaced people was to “sow fear” and make people fear the displaced. The multifaith town of about 5,000 residents has hosted more than 8,000 people since September 23.
“They are attacking villages that are supposed to be safe. Even if they had a military target, they could have waited and attacked elsewhere if there were people visiting their families in places like Badaran.” said Bream. He said the airstrikes have not affected Wardaniya residents' willingness to accept people fleeing Israeli bombing.
On Thursday, Israeli forces attacked Wardaniya again, bombing homes after warning residents of the town's alleged Hezbollah compound to stay away. No one was injured in the strike, and the town's residents and evacuees who had evacuated in anticipation of the strike had almost all returned by the end of the week.
In Akhrafieh, a Christian-majority neighborhood in eastern Beirut, a group of men in uniform and armed with batons began night patrols.
The Neighborhood Watch program, which was abolished in summer 2023, was reinstated on October 5 amid “increased anxiety” among residents, according to Akram Nehme, administrator of Achrafiye 2020, which runs the initiative. That's what it means.
Nehme said the resumption of night patrols had nothing to do with the influx of displaced people, but had been planned for months. The program, which relies on donations from Achrafieh residents, has suddenly received an influx of funds.
Unlike most other parts of Beirut, where displaced families line up outside communal kitchens and sleep on sidewalks, no one is sleeping rough on the streets of Achrafieh. Many residents say privately that they are afraid to accept people from south Lebanon or Beirut's southern suburbs, fearing that their presence could bring Israeli bombs into the neighborhood.
“This is a very big concern for us. If one building was targeted in Achrafieh it would be a problem. So far we have mainly had wealthy people move here. But you could still become a wealthy terrorist,” Nehme said.
In other parts of the capital, it feels as if the social fabric is already beginning to fray under the pressure of mass displacement. Mob justice is beginning to take root in Dahieh, a largely depopulated southern suburb of Beirut as a result of frequent Israeli bombings since September 29.
Men accused of ransacking vacant homes this week were severely beaten, tied to telephone poles and had the word “thief” spray-painted on their exposed chests. A list of “collaborators” with Israel, mostly critics of Hezbollah, began circulating on social media. There are many photos of people arresting citizens on suspicion of being Israeli spies, but little evidence of the charges is shown.
As Israeli forces advance into southern Lebanon and Israeli bombs drive refugees north, some Shiite families, fearing a backlash, are beginning to make arrangements to fly to Iraq. Lebanon's General Security Directorate will facilitate travel, with citizens only needing an identification card to travel to Iraq.
Lebanese officials said they recognized the possibility of social implosion. When a wave of refugees arrived in Beirut a month ago, soldiers were deployed to the city's main intersections and have remained there ever since. “Various security agencies are looking into this and working on it from a security perspective. But this also requires a lot of dialogue, and dialogue at a local level between different community groups to ensure that it does not lead to tension. '', said Nasser Yassin, caretaker environment minister and head of the government's crisis response office.
Despite growing fear, displaced people across Lebanon continue to be welcomed and cared for. In Wardhaniya, people who lived in Dar Al Salam Hotel were resettled in people's homes.
Daher and her family are hosted by a young couple who have increased the power supply to their home to make their guests more comfortable. Still, the couple requested anonymity for this article, fearing that hosting displaced families would make their home a target.
