BBC News, Beirut
BBCIt was a typical Friday lunch time in southern South Beirut. Then a single warning, published in Arabic X by a spokesman for the Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF), triggered panic and chaos in the densely populated area known as Dahieh.
« Urgent warning to those in the south of the Beirut district, » he read. The publication included a map of a residential area, marking a red building and two nearby schools. The IDF identified the building as a Hezbollah installation and ordered the immediate evacuation of the schools.
An aerial strike was imminent.
What followed were panic scenes. Parents rushed to the threatened area of collecting their children from schools, while residents fled in the opposite direction, visibly shaken and fearful.
« It was a total chaos, » recalls Ahmad Alama, the director of the St Georges School, one of the prominent on the map. « We tried to contain the situation as much as we could, but it was crazy. »
The area was erased soon and the Israeli forces destroyed the marked building, which said it was a warehouse that stored Drones Hezbollah.
The strike, two weeks ago, was the first of Dahieh, an area with a strong presence of Hezbollah, as a cessation of the fire ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah in this November.
It arrived hours after two rockets were thrown from southern Lebanon to northern Israel. Israel said he intercepted a rocket, while the other was reduced to the border.
Hezbollah, the militant and politician group supported by Iran, denied participation. Israel described the fire of rockets as a « rape » of cessation of fire, while the President of the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, condemned the Israeli strike as « violating the agreement. »
« We thought that the war had ended with the cessation of fire, » says Mr. Alama, « but unfortunately, we still live every day. »
Despite the cessation of fire, Israel has continued the strikes almost daily to the people and the goals they say are linked to Hezbollah, saying that he acts to prevent Hezbollah from being reversed. The strikes have taken place mainly in southern Lebanon, but recent bombings in Dahieh have caused a particular alarm.
On April 1, A second Israeli strike came to the area – This time without warning: killing a Hezbollah commander and three other people, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Pictures of gettyEvacuation exercises
Mr. Alama has been running the St Georges School for 30 years. It serves around 1,000 children of all ages, boys and girls. Although religion is part of the curriculum for older students, he describes the school as secular.
He is also known in the community for his association with the Judge of the Lebanese pop star and the talent judge, Ragheb Alama, the brother of Ahmad Alama and the school owner.
The newly destroyed building is a few meters from the school. It is not the only scene of nearby devastation. Another building, in front of one of the doors of St Georges, is still a large number of debris, left by Israeli air hits before the cessation of the fire.
During the war, the schools closed. They did not have to deal with situations like the one they faced. Now reopened, they find the possibility of more bombings.
The school has devised the evacuation plans, designating emergency meeting points in the basement and routes so that students and staff can continue in case of danger.
There are also new communication plans with parents to prevent the repetition of the chaos of the strike last month. Children are now reminded of these procedures, with regular evacuation exercises.
Students, staff and parents are traumatized by what happened, according to Alama.
Initially, the school was planned to cut after -school activities to compensate for lost learning, but they changed their minds.
« We have decided the opposite, » says Alama. « Students should not pay the price for something they are not responsible for. We have actually ended up increasing these activities; these children have to release some of the pressure on them. »
Reminders everywhere
Almost five months after the cessation of fire, the return of Israeli aerial attacks to Beirut has intensified the fears of returning to war.
The cessation of fire was intended to end with more than 13 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, which began when Hezbollah threw attacks on Israeli military positions the day after Hamas attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, saying that he acted in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
The conflict was climbed in September 2024, when Israel launched a devastating aerial campaign Through Lebanon and it invaded the south of the country.
Dahieh, deserted during the war, is back. The shops have been reopened, Hokah smokers are back in the busy coffee shops, and the suburb looks as busy as before, with their persistently paralyzing traffic.
But in the midst of these signs of normality, the scenes of destruction serve as a reminder of the baptism of this area a few months ago.
About 346 buildings in the area were destroyed and another was partly damaged by Israeli air attacks, according to a municipal official. Israel said he was aimed at Hezbollah’s facilities and weapons cache.
In many neighborhoods, the rubble is still erased. The roar of bulldozers and jackhammers that outline in piles of waste is almost constant.
Some of the mounds of remains have Hezbollah flags planted on top, while large and small portraits of Hassan Nasrallah, the former Hezbollah leader killed by Israel during the war, align the roads.
However, in the midst of the signs accustomed to challenge, many are now expressing a deep concern not always expressed, at least in front of the cameras, by Dahieh residents.
« The destruction is scary. I see the destroyed buildings and I cry, » says Sawsan Hariri, the director of Burj High School, also in Dahieh.
The school, which is also in front of a flattened building, suffered damage to nearby strikes.
« It’s depressing. Walking on the street, driving the car, everything is depressing. »
Ms. Hariri used to live on the upper floor of the school building with her husband and daughter, but her home has been destroyed. They now rent a flat nearby.
Before the war, Burj High School had around 600 students. Now, it barely has 100.
Many parents are reluctant to send their children in the midst of the scenes of destruction and the constant sound of the machinery. Others were worried about health risks, with the thick dust that still filled the air.
Following the cessation of fire, private school owners made some basic repairs in their own way.
Hezbollah, which is banned as a terrorist organization in many countries, but in Lebanon is a political and social movement, as well as a paramilitary force, has given those who lost their homes $ 12,000 for one year’s income and offered to cover the costs of repairs to the apartments. However, schools and other institutions have not received any help.
The Lebanese government has pledged to establish a reconstruction fund, which the World Bank’s estimates will cost $ 11 million across the country. But it is believed that international donors insist on Hezbollah’s disarmament and political reform: conditions that seem like a distant perspective.
Although it is expected that the Rune Clariana will end by the end of the year, few are waiting for the large -scale reconstruction to continue soon.
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