On the ground in Beirut, in the wake of airstrikes

On Wednesday, Hezbollah reported the media, among others The New York Times a tour of parts of the Dahiya. Hezbollah authorities accompanied journalists to three buildings in the area that had been hit by airstrikes over the past two days. Hezbollah members did not stand near reporters while interviewing local residents and had no say in what would be published. They did not take reporters to the site of the Israeli airstrikes that killed Nasrallah.

The tour revealed a suburb, once full of life, that had come to a standstill. There were few residents left; those who were there had returned only for a brief visit to pick up necessities – blankets, clothing, medicine – from their homes before leaving again.

Abdullah Mohammad, 35, stood on the sidewalk Wednesday afternoon, looking at the piles of rubble that once housed the offices of Al-Siraat, a cultural and religious affairs television channel. The building had been razed to the ground by an air raid two days earlier. Now in their place stood metal poles carved from chunks of concrete and a mangled knot of power lines.

“Dahiya is our heart,” he said, staring at the rubble. “This is where we live, this is where we were born, this is our home.”

Mohammad, whose apartment is adjacent to the building, fled late Friday night with his wife and two daughters to a nearby neighborhood after they heard the thunderous roar of Israeli warplanes dropping more than 80 bombs over several minutes during the strikes that killed Nasrallah.

Since then, Mohammed has returned to this stretch of sidewalk every day to make sure his apartment was still standing, he said. And every day when he left for the Dahiya, his six-year-old daughter begged him to bring her some of her toys that had been left behind during the family’s flight.

He tried to explain to her that it might not be safe to enter the building in the event of another strike. For now, he stands on the sidewalk looking at his house and hopes it will remain standing for another day.

Before the recent conflict broke out and the suburb emptied, the Dahiya was among the most populous communities in Lebanon, with an estimated population of 1 million. Many were among the hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslims who took refuge there, fleeing southern Lebanon in the 1980s after Israel invaded.

During the months-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, the suburb was decimated by Israeli airstrikes. But in the years that followed, Hezbollah and its patron Iran invested heavily in rebuilding the country, with luxury restaurants, fast-food chains, hookah lounges and sprawling shopping centers.

The investment brought life back to the neighborhood. It also strengthened support for Hezbollah among many of its residents.

“Our loyalty is with you, Nasrallah!” three young men shouted at journalists visiting the site of another strike on Wednesday afternoon. “Our choice is either to fight or to be humiliated – and we will not be humiliated!” they shouted.

Nearby, clouds of dark gray smoke billowed from the remains of an apartment complex hit in an airstrike the night before, according to a resident of a neighboring building. The smoke hung thick in the air and the fire it caused seemed impossible to extinguish. “It still works because it comes from gas,” said resident Bilal Salami. “Every time they try to put it out, it just reignites.”

Beneath the grayish cloud could be seen the outlines of cinder blocks, dust-covered and dented air conditioners and a large window frame, its metal pieces intact but the glass between them shattered.

Ten minutes down the Hadi Nasrallah Highway – a road named after Nasrallah’s son who died fighting the Israeli army in 1997 – the sandwich and shawarma stalls on the sidewalk were all closed and the lights were once darkly strung above them. The stretch of road was known for its vibrancy and 24-hour fast food restaurants.

Howshad Tabaja, 32, and his son, Hassan Fahik, 11, sat on his motorcycle on the side of the road late Wednesday afternoon. Tabaja was playing with a box he had tied to the front of the bicycle. The box was piled high with towels and winter coats that he had just picked up from his sister’s apartment. They had all fled a few days earlier and were sleeping on the sidewalk near the town’s beach, he said. Now he and his son headed back to their apartment, hoping to gather some more winter clothes.

“It’s very cold where we stay,” he explained. Still, he said that even if his home were destroyed, it was a price he was willing to pay for opposing Israel.

“I hope to return, but even if I lose my house, it is in the interest of Sayid,” he added, referring to Nasrallah.