On one of the main arteries of Dahieh, the southern suburbs of Beirut, scooters parade on which are two, three, sometimes four people. On the roofs of equally crowded cars hang suitcases and mattresses. In every window, on every windshield, the yellow and green Hezbollah flag flaps in the wind. On the other side of the road, men are firing guns into the air. It clicks, it deafens, adding its share of noise to the ambient cacophony. “Don’t worry, it’s to celebrate the victory”says Hassan, dressed in a black sweatshirt. Sitting on a plastic chair, protected by the rain which is beginning to fall, the 25-year-old young man observes this parade, euphoric.
From the first moment the ceasefire came into force this Wednesday, November 27 at 4 a.m., thousands of residents of Dahieh who had fled the Israeli bombings rushed into their neighborhood. The chaos of the day before transforms into popular jubilation. According to a source close to Hezbollah, 90% of the population has left the area since September 23. Hassan is part of the minority who remained there.
“We haven’t lost anything”
The young man from the southern suburbs of Beirut waits for the rain to calm down and gets on his white scooter to head into the devastated streets. He suddenly stops in front of a mountain of rubble so high that it is impossible to see its summit. “Put away the cameras”he orders in front of the building where Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah, was killed on September 27. In the street littered with broken glass, the looks of onlookers become insistent. All around, gutted buildings rub shoulders with rubble. Only the numerous portraits of the former emblematic leader of the “Party of God”, hanging on the walls and plastered on the t-shirts of passers-by, color this landscape. However, Hassan, who says he is the son of a fighter from the Shiite organization, is proud to show off a neighborhood that he considers “still standing”.
Dahieh constitutes, with the south of Lebanese territory, the historic stronghold of the terrorist organization founded in 1982 in the Bekaa plain. This is the reason why the Jewish state has particularly targeted this working-class neighborhood since the start of its military offensive in Lebanon on September 23. Between the announcement and the official entry into force of the ceasefire agreement this Wednesday, the Israeli army further intensified its strikes in order to continue “with force its work of dismantling the structures of Hezbollah”according to its Arabic-speaking spokesperson, Avichay Adraee. During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, dozens of air raids pounded the area, notably hitting the neighborhood twenty times in 120 seconds.
The attacks weakened Hezbollah materially
A few streets from Hassan Nasrallah’s former headquarters, in an alley in the Ghobeiry district, Ali*, 36, notes the results of the strike which hit his building thirty minutes before the agreement came into force of peace. “And this is what Israel does when it invites itself onto our territory”he quips, pointing to the ruins that surround him. He wipes his forehead, a shovel in his hand. At his feet, a stuffed toy is placed on a cushion torn apart by the power of the bombardment. “There were only civilians herehe adds. Israel is only capable of destruction. And that’s not a victory. » Far from being devastated by the ocean of rubble that surrounds him, the thirty-year-old in the leather jacket and impeccable jeans is galvanized by the two months he has just experienced. Victory, for him, goes to Hezbollah. “We haven’t lost anything, it’s all nothing”he says. Following the announcement of the ceasefire, Hezbollah also proclaimed its victory in a press release, affirming that “the victory of Almighty God was the ally of the just cause”.
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Strongholds of the Shiite organization shelled
These two months of war, during which Israel targeted Hezbollah’s infrastructure and members on a daily basis, have in fact permanently weakened the Shiite organization on a material and organizational level. Dozens of its commanders and hundreds of its fighters were killed. Its strongholds were shelled and its arsenal largely damaged. “The only thing we lost is Hassan Nasrallahadmits Ali. But the Israeli army claimed to want to invade Lebanon, it only entered a few villages, this clearly shows the success of Hezbollah. »
Israel thought the Lebanese would turn away from Hezbollah
“I don’t really believe in the ceasefirehe estimates after a long silence. On the other hand, they protect us. ” ” Them “these are Hezbollah fighters, who, according to this resident of Dahieh, would have made it possible to prevent a land invasion of Lebanon. “I am a Shiite Muslim, but I have always voted for the Christian party of the Free Patriotic Movement [parti de l’ancien président Michel Aoun, NDLR]he confides. Shiite residents here do not necessarily support the political wing of the “Party of God.” This war showed me that Hezbollah was the only one resisting Israel, so I will now know where to turn. » This father of two children, homeless since the very morning, observes the parade of black pick-ups passing with a concert of horns, before continuing: “You can see that people are coming back with Hezbollah flags. Israel attacks our homes saying that we are going to turn against Hezbollah, but the opposite is happening.”he says, running a hand through his graying hair.
It is difficult to know at the moment whether this dynamic is representative of the entire population of Dahieh. In any case, it is that of those who showed up in the streets of the southern suburbs in the first days of the truce.
*First names have been changed.
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