War between Hezbollah and Israel drags Beirut back into despair
Live MintBEIRUT—From his tiled terrace in the foothills overlooking Beirut, Mohammed Dayekh is watching a place he once loved go up in flames. Israel says its airstrikes are targeting Hezbollah’s infrastructure, including what it says are weapons storage facilities and bunkers used by the group’s military wing underneath Dahiyeh, the Hezbollah-dominated neighborhood where Dayekh grew up. Strikes have hit near Beirut’s airport and hospitals which are located near neighborhoods where Israel says Hezbollah is hiding its military and administrative infrastructure. A parallel boom took place in southern Beirut’s Dahiyeh neighborhood, as Hezbollah—bankrolled by Iran—evolved into a political party that elected candidates to parliament, launched its own satellite channel and expanded its military forces. Israel’s military said the strike was directed at a Hezbollah member involved in planning attacks on Israel near the hospital, and the hospital wasn’t a target of the attack.