Beirut Residents Face Sleepless Nights as Hezbollah-Israel War Leaves Buildings in Ruins
Beirut residents sleepless as Hezbollah-Israel war causes massive destruction.
Residents of Beirut are reporting sleepless nights and widespread destruction as Lebanon becomes a battleground in the ongoing war between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel. Multiple buildings have been reduced to rubble, with civilians expressing fear and exhaustion amid continuous strikes.
The conflict escalated on March 2 when Hezbollah, a prominent armed group aligned with Iran, fired rockets toward Israeli cities, reportedly in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel responded with large-scale air and artillery strikes on Lebanese territory, resulting in over 1,100 deaths and displacing more than one million people—over one-fifth of Lebanon’s population.
“I’m scared. I want to sleep,” said George, a Beirut resident, speaking to NDTV. “I haven’t slept for a month.” He described the streets as nearly deserted, with his dogs becoming aggressive due to the relentless bombings. George added that the Lebanese people were unwise to enter the conflict, saying, “When you take your leg in any war, you are stupid.”
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Hezbollah, which means “Party of God” in Arabic, was founded during the Lebanese civil war after Israel’s 1982 siege of Beirut. The group has previously fought a month-long war with Israel in 2006, which killed approximately 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 in Israel, mostly soldiers. In the 2023–2024 conflict in Gaza, more than 5,000 Hezbollah fighters were reportedly killed.
This week, Hezbollah announced a series of attacks, including a claim that its fighters launched a surface-to-air missile at an Israeli warplane over Beirut. In southern Lebanon, the group said its fighters engaged Israeli forces in the villages of Bayada and Shamaa using light and medium weapons. Israel has accused Hezbollah of continuing operations from southern Lebanon, warning that if the Lebanese government does not disarm the group, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) will take action.
Since March 2, more than 400 Hezbollah fighters have reportedly been killed. The intensifying conflict has left civilians in Beirut and surrounding areas struggling to cope with the destruction and fear of ongoing attacks, highlighting the devastating human toll of the war in Lebanon.
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