Rubble, and Defiance

The Dahiya, a collection of neighborhoods on the southern outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, was in ruins, smoke still rising from the rubble of destroyed buildings.

The Israeli military has warned Lebanese civilians to evacuate many areas as it pursues its campaign to eliminate the leaders of the militant group and political party Hezbollah, who live among the general population. Dahiya has been a stronghold for the militant group.

Hezbollah began striking Israeli positions with rockets last October, a show of support for the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks on Israel from Gaza. Now, after almost a year of cross-border rocket fire and the assassination of the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli and Hezbollah are fighting on the ground. Israel’s military has been bombarding Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, including in the Dahiya, and said this week that it had sent more troops to Lebanon to join the fight against Hezbollah.

Last week, Hezbollah gave news organizations including The New York Times a tour of three buildings in the Dahiya area that were hit in recent airstrikes. Hezbollah members were not near reporters as they interviewed residents and had no say over what would be published.

The journalists, wearing blue body armor and helmets marked “Press,” were escorted through the streets, passing downed power lines and rubble.

Our first stop was at the vast heap of concrete and twisted rebar shown above. Two days earlier, Israeli bombs had brought down a whole building there.

It was a residential apartment block, though it was also home to Al-Sirat TV, a Lebanese religious and cultural network that has a pro-Hezbollah slant. Residents said the building had been mostly evacuated, but there were concerns that there might be bodies buried in the rubble, and rescuers cannot bring in excavation equipment to begin searching while the Israeli bombardment persists.

On one yellow sign was a defiant message.

“No banner of ours will fall,” it said.