in Beirut, “we live second by second”, testifies a Lebanese journalist

The city of Beirut was hit by new strikes during the night from Sunday to Monday. Rita Bassil, a Lebanese journalist in Beirut, describes a very difficult situation between anguish and worry.

Israeli strikes targeted a Palestinian refugee camp in the south of the country, and also a residential building in Beirut, on the night of Sunday September 29 to Monday September 30. Four people died in this shooting which targeted activists of the Palestine Liberation Front. This is the first time that a strike has occurred on the administrative territory of the capital and not in its suburbs, even if the places are only separated by a few kilometers.

“We must stop, asks Rita Bassil, a Lebanese journalist, who lives on the edge of the southern suburbs. The assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, of the Radwan force, of Ismaïl Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas in Lebanon represent many victories for Benjamin Netanyahu. Make him stop!”

Emergency services intervened in the middle of the night on Sunday on this road which connects the airport to the district ofAchrafieh. This strike further fuels the anxiety of the inhabitants of the capital. “We are very anxious, we live second by second, day by day because it is getting closer and closer, testifies Rita Bassil. We don’t sleep. There are drones above our heads all the time.”

The most urgent, most difficult question that residents ask themselves is to leave or to stay? Give up everything or live in fear of new strikes or an Israeli ground invasion? This dilemma consumes a large part of the inhabitants of Beirut.

“In times of war, we can understand political assassinations, but we cannot understand that for an assassination, an entire building will collapse with children, women, men, old people…”

Rita Bassil

Lebanese journalist at franceinfo

A a little further north, a good distance from the capital and its southern suburbs, right next to the Hezbollah stronghold, is Beirut airport. Planes continue to land and depart there. After a week of intense bombing, estimates are difficult to make, but the Lebanese government puts forward the figure of one million displaced people, the largest exodus movement in history within the country.

“We are in a situation of fear of the future. We don’t know what could happen. Already this million displaced people, what is the social and economic weight on a country which is already in difficulty since the economic collapse?“, worries Rita Bassil.