Editor-DN
About 558 people have been killed in Lebanon’s nearly 10-month long cross-border violence.
Beirut:
Batoul and his family have been struggling to find housing outside Beirut’s southern suburbs, where an Israeli strike killed a senior Hezbollah commander last week, but rising demand has driven up prices. is given
Many people in the southern suburbs — a crowded residential area known as Duhih that is also a stronghold of Hezbollah — are trying to leave, after the commander’s death in the Iran-backed group and Israel. Fearing an all-out war between the
“We are with the resistance (Hezbollah) until death,” said Batul, a 29-year-old journalist who declined to give his last name because of the sensitivity of the matter.
“But it’s normal to be scared… and to seek a safe haven,” he told AFP.
Iran and its regional allies have vowed to avenge the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, blamed on Israel, in an Israeli attack on the southern outskirts of Beirut by a senior Hezbollah soldier. A few hours after the death of Commander Fawad Shukar.
Hezbollah has exchanged fire almost daily with Israeli forces backed by its ally Hamas since the start of the war in Gaza after the Palestinian militant group attacked Israel on October 7.
After the twin deaths, foreign airlines suspended flights to Beirut and countries urged their citizens to leave, raising fears of an all-out war.
An Iranian adviser and five civilians were also killed in the attack in Beirut last week — three women and two children.
“Anyone who says they want to stay in Dahiya while it’s being bombed is lying to themselves,” Batul said.
‘no choice’
On Tuesday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said his Shia Muslim movement and Iran were bound to respond to Israel “whatever the consequences.”
Batoul said she had been trying unsuccessfully to rent in “safe areas” outside Beirut — unaffiliated with Hezbollah, but landlords were charging “exorbitant prices.”
A landlord suddenly canceled a flat in the hill town of Safar even after agreeing to pay six months’ rent in advance, he said.
A 55-year-old teacher and Hezbollah supporter, who asked not to be named because the matter is sensitive, said she felt lucky to find a flat about 15 kilometers (nine miles) outside Beirut. .
But it cost $1,500 a month, in a country that has been in economic crisis for more than four years.
The teacher, who is also a resident of Dahiya, said the price hikes were too high, with another apartment listed online for $1,500 a month “but when we arrived, they asked for $2,000”.
“They know we have no choice. When there is a war, people will pay any amount to be safe,” he said.
But “a lot of people will stay (in Dahiya) because they can’t afford the rent,” he added.
Riaz Bou Fakhreddin, a broker who rents out houses in the Mount Lebanon area near Beirut, said apartments were being snapped up “within half an hour to an hour of being listed.”
He said some landlords have asked him to raise the price of apartments to $2,000 a month, from about $500 a month.
He said he refused.
“I tell them I’m not profiting from the crisis. I don’t want to take advantage of people’s fear,” he said.
‘polarization’
Nearly 10 months of cross-border violence have killed at least 558 people in Lebanon, most of them fighters but at least 116 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
According to army figures, 22 soldiers and 25 civilians have been killed on the Israeli side, including in the Golan Heights.
Ali, who rents a serviced apartment in central Beirut, said his phone had not stopped ringing before Nasrallah’s speech.
He said that I have booked 10 flats in two days.
“A lot of people walked in and booked on the spot … or called me and were in within an hour,” said the 32-year-old, who asked to be identified only by his first name.
In 2006, Hezbollah fought a devastating war with Israel, whose air force spent a month nightly bombing the southern suburbs of Beirut, destroying hundreds of apartment blocks.
At the time, many across Lebanon’s sectarian divide expressed support for Hezbollah and solidarity with the Shiite Muslim community, many of whom lost their homes and livelihoods.
But this time, Dahiya resident Batul said there was a lack of unity, with politicians divided after Hezbollah unilaterally decided to launch attacks on Israeli positions on Oct. 8.
In 2006, “there wasn’t that polarization,” he said.
Batul said landlords and others who benefited from the high demand for housing are now simply acting out of greed.
(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
