Israel Bombs the Heart of Beirut for the 1st Time Since 1990
Lebanese capital residents are acknowledging that the war is already on their doorsteps while they lament losing the sense of security in the area
By Andrea López-Tomàs/The Media Line
(Beirut) The melodic chant of the muezzin’s prayers overshadows the sound of ambulances. The ruins of an apartment in the heart of Beirut flank the busiest roundabout in the Lebanese capital. People come and go. They don’t stop. Life and death coexist in Cola. In this historic bus station, where, until the late 1960s, there was a Coca-Cola factory, the past has burst into the present in the form of a bombing.
For the first time since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990, Cola has been the target of Israeli attacks. At least four people have died this morning. Three were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). With daylight, Beirut residents can do nothing but get on with their lives.
Some stop their motorcycles in front of the 10-story building, whose fourth floor has disappeared, and take a photo. It seems that they are trying to convince themselves that, yes, it is real. The war has reached the heart of Beirut. “We can no longer speak in terms of whether there will be a war or not,” said Marwa al Yamal, the owner of Marwa Pharmacy adjacent to the attacked residential block. “We are at war,” she told The Media Line.
Still scared and under two lights hanging from the impact of the explosion, she remembered what her colleagues had told her. “They saw three missiles approaching that apartment,” al Yamal said. She knows one of the residents on the sixth floor. “He was terrified,” she added.
“We thought this place was safe because of the political nature of this area. It is far from the problems that have been happening,” this pharmacist said, referring to southern Lebanon, the eastern valley of Bekaa, Baalbek, and the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the attacks of this last week have been concentrated, killing more than a thousand people throughout the country. “We never expected it, frankly,” she admitted.
Israel seems to have no brakes. This morning, the heart of Beirut was bombed in the first attack outside the Hezbollah-controlled suburb of Dahiye since the intensification of its offensive. This Sunni area is a nerve center for the mobilizations of the whole country, as it has an important bus station in front of the site of the attack.
Hasan and his friends watch life go by. Hidden in the shade, they spend their hours chatting, smoking, and drinking one coffee after another. Drivers of the vans that serve as public transport in a country that lacks it and that connect towns and cities around the tiny Lebanese territory have not worked for days.
“There is no work because there is war,” Hasan told The Media Line. His deep green eyes, surrounded by many wrinkles, have seen them in all colors. “The people do not want war, but war does not just happen,” he said wisely. “Look at the countries: the United States, Israel, and Iran. They are the owners of our destiny,” he added. Originally from southern Lebanon but living in the Cola area, he knows that nothing is in his hands.
“[The Israelis] are starting gradually, but they will do the same as in Gaza. They are already attacking hospitals and have killed [a hundred] children in Lebanon,” Hasan said, who prefers not to share his full name. Beyond the relevance of Israel deciding to act outside Hezbollah areas, showing that there are no longer any red lines for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the fact that it is attacking the PFLP has just confirmed this.
This Palestinian group has not been involved in the cross-border violence that began seven months ago. The PFLP has not launched rockets towards Israeli territory, as other groups have done over this time, such as Hamas, for example.
In addition, the symbolism of the place of the attack once again highlights that Israel feels empowered to attack all its enemies. Before the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), when Palestinian guerrillas had a lot of power in Lebanese territory, the Cola area was one of their main strongholds.
As were the dozen Palestinian refugee camps spread throughout Lebanon. On Monday, Hamas announced that one of its commanders had been killed along with his wife, one son, and his daughter-in-law in an Israeli attack inside the Bus Palestinian refugee camp in Tyre, south of Lebanon. This is the first time that Israel has attacked a target inside the camp, which marks a new escalation.
“We can’t do anything because someone outside Lebanon has decided that there will be a war here,” said Muhse, a Lebanese soldier stationed at the foot of the attacked building. With his gaze fixed on the residential block, which seems to be split in half, he is still surprised by the strangeness of the attack. “Here, in Cola, nothing usually happens because it is an area with the presence of people of all kinds, such as Sunnis, Shiites, and Christians,” he told The Media Line.
This Monday, the interim prime minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, acknowledged that they are willing “to deploy the Lebanese Army south of the Litani River.” “I am not afraid,” Muhse said. “It is better for me to die than for children to die as is happening now,” he added.
Although the Israeli Army has not claimed responsibility for the attack in Beirut but has claimed responsibility for the one in the Tyre refugee camp, the PFLP has lamented the death of “the three martyrs of the occupation’s bombing.” The Palestinian organization, founded in 1967 with a Marxist-Leninist ideology, has lost Commander Mohamed Abdel Al, a member of the Front’s Political Bureau and head of the Military Security Department; Commander Imad Odeh, a member of the Front’s Military Department and military commander in Lebanon; and Abdel Rahman Abdel Al.
As the war moves deeper into Lebanese territory, Israeli leaders are promising more. “We will use all our capabilities,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told soldiers deployed on Israel’s northern border. “If anyone on the other side doesn’t understand what these capabilities mean, they are all of them, and you are part of this effort,” he added, indicating that the ground invasion of Lebanon is a matter of hours away.
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