Beirut's southern suburbs a place of pitch darkness, piles of rubble

Following almost one week of no airstrikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a hotbed of the Shiite Hezbollah militia, Israel resumed its heavy strikes over the weekend, hitting more buildings and different areas.

A dpa reporter who visited the area saw only the remnants of buildings in the neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the city.

"If you are lucky your building is still standing with massive damage. Mainly most of buildings are a pile of rubble by now," Samer, a resident of Choueifat on the southern edge of the Beirut, told dpa.

On Saturday afternoon, the Israeli army's Arabic spokesman, Avichay Adraee, warned that specific buildings marked on a map located in the al-Oumara neighbourhood of Choueifat would be hit.

The usual message that Adraee posts on X is: "You are near facilities and interests belonging to Hezbollah, which the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] will target in the near future. For your safety and the safety of your family, you must evacuate this building and the surrounding buildings immediately and move at least 500 meters away."

Shortly after the warning was received, loud explosions and black smoke covered the area. The area looked like a hurricane had struck: In a few minutes, two buildings were reduced to rubble.

"Most areas have suffered massive damage," said Samer, who came on Sunday to inspect the damage inflicted on his house. "It feels like the Israelis want to punish us for living in or near Hezbollah-controlled areas," he said.

Many residents, mainly young men, come after every Israeli strike to check if their homes or buildings are still standing.

"We use Vespas [Italian style mopeds] as an easy way in and out to check on things and because the roads are filled with rubble and shattered glass," he said.

Most of the residents of Beirut's southern suburbs have already fled and are now displaced. They are currently sheltering in schools in central Beirut amid poor living conditions.

As night approaches, the destroyed neighbourhoods of Beirut's southern suburbs are in complete darkness, without electricity or light.

Standing on a hill which overlooks the areas, only an area of pitch blackness is to be seen, indicating that no one lives there any more.