Beirut, Lebanon – Normally at about 1am on a Saturday morning, parking is easy to find at Ramlet el-Bayda on Beirut’s seafront.On this Saturday morning, however, cars were bumper to bumper on both sides of the road. Many were double parked and more kept arriving, as people continued to flee the devastating waves of Israeli attacks on southern parts of Lebanon’s capital.
Earlier that evening, the Israeli military levelled a block of buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing at least six and wounding another 91. The death toll is likely to rise further.
Israel claimed the intended target was a central Hezbollah headquarters and that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has been killed. Hezbollah has yet to issue a statement on his fate.
On the seafront, people laid down mattresses on the pavement or towels down on the beach. Further along the sand, some set up plastic chairs facing the water or sat around tables drinking coffee or smoking argileh pipes. Groups of children ran around and played.
Some people said they would spend the night here, while others said they were unsure. They didn’t think that far ahead, they just knew they had to escape Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The Israeli military had also released a statement, including publishing maps, saying that three buildings in the area would be hit.
Ayman, a 24-year-old man from Deir Az Zor in Syria, told Al Jazeera that “there’s no one left” in the densely populated southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh.
“Everyone is leaving. Whoever doesn’t have a car is fleeing by scooter, whoever doesn’t have a scoot …