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The building in Beirut hit by Israeli missiles – Reuters
Dahiyeh is “the stronghold” of Hezbollah, and it is here that at 19:45 Beirut time an entire eight-story residential building was pierced and brought down by an Israeli missile. The target was Fuad Shukr, military advisor to the leader of the Iran-aligned Shiite movement, Hassan Nasrallah. Sources in Beirut state that Shukr did not survive, contrary to what was initially reported after the operation. Also known as Hajj Mohsin, he was believed by Israeli intelligence to be in charge of Hezbollah’s precision missile project. He is also wanted by the U.S. for his role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, which resulted in 241 American deaths and 56 French paratroopers.
The promised Israeli retaliation after the massacre of Druze children in the Golan struck where diplomacy hoped it would not happen. The Israeli armed forces soon confirmed they had carried out an airstrike on the Lebanese capital to kill the Hezbollah commander believed to be behind the Majdal Shams massacre. “Hezbollah has crossed the red line,” stated Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant shortly after the attack. The Lebanese government reacted by denouncing the Israeli operation as a “criminal act” and said it reserves the “right to take measures” to discourage “Israeli hostility.” Iran termed it a “vile attack.” The Russian Foreign Ministry referred to it as a “flagrant violation of international law,” as reported by Tass. From Yemen, the Houthis condemned the raid and threatened new attacks.
While diplomats strive to contain the reaction to avoid a regional earthquake, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stated he “does not consider a clash inevitable,” despite remaining concerned about potential escalation.
The minarets of Dahiyeh are Hezbollah’s eyes, the locals its ears always alert. In the stronghold of the “Party of God,” giant posters of martyrs, the Iranian general Suleiman killed by Americans in Iraq, and the serious visage of leader Nasrallah mark a toponymy recounting a state of permanent war and unresolved accounts.
For his involvement in that bombing, the United States placed a bounty of up to $5 million on his head for information leading “to his location, arrest, or conviction in any country.” Washington has indeed designated him as a “global terrorist” and has seized all assets under U.S. jurisdiction. According to U.S. authorities, Shukr also assisted Assad’s pro-regime troops in Hezbollah’s military campaign against Syrian opposition forces. According to a profile outlined by U.S. authorities, Shukr is a “senior advisor” for military affairs to Nasrallah and has served in Hezbollah’s highest military body, the Jihad Council. Born in 1962, he was a close associate of the late commander of the Party of God, Imad Mughniyah.
Despite proclamations filled with rhetoric and ideology, on the ground Hezbollah prefers to build consensus with concrete steps. Even the name of the neighborhood evokes neither dogmas nor heroes. Dahiyeh means “suburb,” and those who live here know it. Young guys with automatic rifles not too concealed ensure that outsiders do not come looking for trouble. Not far from here was the Lebanese office of Hamas, where on January 3 six prominent members of the Palestinian armed group were killed, including Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of the so-called politburo of the political wing of the armed organization.
In the midst of an economic crisis that sees the Lebanese lira plummeting daily, Hezbollah is for many more than a temporary fix. Teenagers in Messi and Ronaldo jerseys know they do not have much choice. “The war in Gaza is also bringing together Lebanese factions that once eyed each other warily,” explains a member of Amal, the party of parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah. Names, he says, are better left unsaid. Hezbollah does not take certain criticisms well, especially now that war has returned to Beirut.
The popular consensus in neighborhoods controlled by the “Party of God” is not in question. Years ago, joining the police or army of Beirut was a widespread aspiration. No longer, now that the salary for newcomers, if they are lucky, barely exceeds 500 euros. Hezbollah does not act as an anti-state but as a “state within a state.” For fighters admitted to enlistment, it offers a two-year contract with a monthly salary ranging from 600 to 1,200 dollars, plus a series of benefits. Families of “martyrs” who have fallen in battle are guaranteed compensation between 25,000 and 45,000 dollars.
Dahiyeh is actually the sum of four municipalities in southern Beirut, where more than half a million people live, double the residents of the Beirut municipality alone, mostly originating from the southern villages from which they fled starting in 1982 during the Israeli invasion while Beirut was engulfed in the civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990.
The threats of an expansion of the conflict from the south, therefore, in Dahiyeh have awakened long-suppressed tensions. And Hezbollah knows how to keep the volume of rhetoric high while meanwhile risking itself on the ground. According to the CIA’s “World Factbook,” the Iran-supported group has around 150,000 missiles and rockets and also has precision missiles, drones, and anti-tank, anti-aircraft, and anti-ship missiles. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stated in 2021 that the group has 100,000 fighters. According to estimates by CIA analysts, in 2022 the organization had 45,000 fighters, about 20,000 of whom were full-time.
Today, rocket fire from Lebanon has killed an Israeli civilian, according to medical reports, as Lebanon braced for Israeli retaliation following the deadly missile attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The Israeli army stated that 10 rockets were launched from Lebanon, and one struck Kibbutz Hagoshrim, resulting in a casualty. Hezbollah claims to have targeted a military position. Shortly afterward, some jets violated deep into Lebanese airspace, exceeding the speed of sound over populated areas, renewing the “sonic boom” that surprises and terrifies the population. Hezbollah claims to have launched anti-aircraft missiles against the fighters, forcing them to return.
Concern has been expressed by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, “We have two contingents, one in Beirut and another at the border between Hezbollah and Israel. They are now secured, but as Defense Minister Crosetto has requested, we want to know what the United Nations intends to do; perhaps the rules of engagement need to be modified as the situation changes day by day.”