The southern suburbs of Beirut have returned to the headlines in a way that its residents had hoped it would not.
After a series of senior ‘axis of resistance’ figures were assassinated, Hezbollah and its chief sponsor Iran may feel the time is right to take the fight to their enemy. Israel’s trigger-happy government seems equally happy to duel.
The region appears to be holding its breath, as retaliation by Hezbollah for Israel’s assassination of its top military leader Fuad Shukr is expected imminently, while Iran smoulders from the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Lebanon the country is not stoking war. Rather, Hezbollah the Lebanon-based Iranian-backed militia is. Yet it is Lebanon that will have to pay for the economic and financial collapse that sustained Israeli airstrikes against Lebanese infrastructure could bring.
South of Beirut
Ten towns form what resembles a sprawling and crowded city south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut. They have come under intense scrutiny, especially after Israel assassinated Shukr, who was Hezbollah’s field commander.
The militia has been engaged in what some call “distraction warfare” in support of Gaza, firing rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel. Last week, one rocket landed in an Israeli Druze town, killed 12 children and teenagers at a football pitch.
Some Lebanese and Arabs are confused about the geographical status of the southern suburbs, or ‘Dahiya’ as locals say. Many think it is a single city in its own right, adjacent to Beirut.