Fear and anger in Hezbollah’s stronghold… displaced people with nowhere to go
They have no destination. They flee in every direction, yet their faces share the same expression of anger, while the same question runs through their minds: why?
On the beach of Ramlet al-Baida, which borders Beirut’s southern suburbs, hundreds of Lebanese people with their children have spread out on the ground and slept under the open sky after fleeing in haste following an unprecedented Israeli warning to evacuate the densely populated area, amid the war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The displaced, who have found nowhere to go, share the same expression of anger. One of them, speaking emotionally to Agence France-Presse and refusing to reveal his identity, said: “We fled the southern suburbs, we were humiliated. We will sleep on the road tonight, and only God knows what will happen to us.”
Panic and fear
Like many others, one man brought nothing with him when he left his home in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where a wave of panic and fear accompanied the mass departure of residents, according to AFP correspondents.
The area, considered a Hezbollah stronghold with an estimated population of between 600,000 and 800,000 people, witnessed severe traffic congestion after the Israeli warning, as residents rushed to leave while gunfire was heard to alert them and urge them to evacuate.
Videos circulated by local media and social media users showed hundreds of families leaving several neighborhoods on foot, while roads were crowded with cars and motorcycles. Some carried their children, while others held small bags and suitcases containing essential belongings.
Under a faint sun that did little to warm the cool air, the displaced — including women, children, and elderly people — arrived at the beach. Some carried their children, while others dragged small suitcases or bags containing a few basic belongings.
One angry displaced man simply said: “The situation is extremely bad.”
“Why?”
A few dozen meters away, Abu Ahmad, 61, told Agence France-Presse how he had spent the last war between Hezbollah and Israel — which ended in November 2024 — living in a tent on the same beach.
The man, who has experienced war after war since childhood, said that “luck” was what had kept him alive. “Only God, who created you, decides your fate,” he added.
The unemployed man, his face marked by fatigue, asked emotionally: “Why this war?”
Abu Ahmad does not intend to spend the night outdoors, noting that he may return to his home. “I am not afraid for my life because I am alone,” he said, after sending his family and children to Syria to ensure their safety.
Almost empty
Following the large-scale displacement from Beirut’s southern suburbs, the Lebanese National News Agency reported that the area had become “almost empty.”
Severe traffic congestion extended for hours across several neighborhoods of Beirut, while institutions and companies rushed to close their doors and send employees home before the end of the workday.
Before the evacuation warning was issued to residents of the southern suburbs, Lebanese authorities had estimated that more than 90,000 people had already been displaced since the start of the war between Hezbollah and Israel, which erupted amid the U.S.–Israeli attack on Iran.
As residents from the southern suburbs moved in large numbers toward Beirut and Mount Lebanon, the government’s disaster management unit called on displaced people to head toward the eastern and northern parts of the country, as shelters had reached full capacity.
On Thursday, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened that Beirut’s southern suburbs would face the same fate as Gaza in terms of destruction in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel.
In a post on X, the United Nations Special Coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert wrote: “An evacuation order now covers large areas of Beirut’s southern suburbs while people continue to flee southern Lebanon in large numbers.”
She added: “The country is living through a new nightmare, but no party can impose a lasting solution by force.”
