Residents pack up to leave Dahiyeh before Eid al-Adha as Netanyahu threatens to ‘intensify strikes’

On Monday evening, Rima Ismail sat with her family in their home in Sfeir, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, watching the news and waiting for what they hoped would be an imminent ceasefire announcement, just in time for Eid al-Adha. She had followed closely the statements indicating that the United States and Iran were nearing a deal and that it could include a halt to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. For the first time in days, she thought she could relax. Instead, Israel’s prime minister threatened to escalate attacks on Lebanon in a video released on Telegram, while reports warning of possible strikes on Dahiyeh began spreading rapidly. Soon, residents began leaving their homes, and the Old Saida Road — one of the main routes leading in and out of Dahiyeh — became increasingly congested. Hundreds of cars clogged the streets as families reacted to the threats. For many who had recently returned to Dahiyeh, the renewed threats once again shattered any feeling of stability as the main highways out of the area filled with waves of fleeing cars. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Monday for Israel to launch strikes targeting and destroying buildings in Beirut, framing the move as intended to strike back at Hezbollah’s use of explosive drones against Israeli forces still operating in south Lebanon. Israeli reports also quoted unnamed Israeli security officials anticipating an escalation in its offensive on Lebanon that had been approved by Israel’s political leadership, including strikes at Hezbollah leadership figures in Beirut. Ismail’s family immediately began calling relatives and friends, trying to figure out whether the threats might simply be a form of psychological warfare intended to spread panic, like the constant buzzing of drones and low-flying jets that have returned to the capital in recent days. But everyone they spoke to advised them to leave immediately, just in case. “We didn’t even have a bag packed,” she said. “We just needed to get out of Dahiyeh quickly because, for all we knew, the bombs could start dropping at any moment.” Ismail left with her husband and sister for Tayouneh, where dozens of tents housing displaced families have stood since the war began on March 2. The three remained in their car through the night. “We didn’t dare go back,” she said. Layal Bassam, another resident of Dahiyeh, had only returned home a week earlier after spending most of the war with relatives in Khaldeh. “We had barely unpacked our things,” Bassam told Mada Masr. “And now we have to pack everything again and leave. Honestly, what’s happening to us feels unimaginable.” Bassam said she had returned home since life in Dahiyeh appeared to be returning to normal. Shops had reopened, restaurants were crowded again and many of her neighbors and friends had moved back. Reports of progress in US-Iran talks had added to the hope that a broader regional agreement could include an end to Israel’s war on Lebanon, a trajectory endorsed Sunday by Hezbollah’s secretary-general, Naim Qassem. With US President Donald Trump signalling that a deal could be announced Sunday, things felt promising. But by Monday, optimism had begun to fade as reports emerged that negotiations were facing obstacles . “We kind of expected we might have to leave eventually,” Bassam told Mada Masr after leaving Monday night to stay with relatives for the coming days. “We were just hoping we’d have a little more time at home.” For many, the renewed fears brought back memories of last year’s mass displacement on the eve of Eid al-Adha, when the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings in Dahiyeh. It feels “likely they do this deliberately,” Ismail said. “It’s not the first time.” The prospect of airstrikes on the capital again has raised the specter of renewed displacement — and all its costs. Rana Mohsen said she took her elderly mother out of their home in Shiyyah to stay with her sister in Hazmieh, though she personally did not want to leave. “What’s the point?” she told Mada Masr. “Another wave of displacement? For what? I’d rather die in my own house.” The glass was shattered in Mohsen’s home earlier in the war. She said the repeated repairs have become financially exhausting. “We are tired of fixing our homes only for them to be destroyed again,” she said. “Where are we supposed to keep getting this money from? Renting outside Dahiyeh costs a fortune.” For Ismail, too, leaving Dahiyeh is a financial strain. After the ceasefire was announced April 17 , she moved back into her rented home, easing some of the war’s economic pressure. “I was paying nearly US$1,000 in rent while displaced,” she said. “I just wanted to go back to my normal routine — work, family, neighbors, my house.” But now, she does not know what will come next after her night on the road with her family. “I don’t want to go through another house-hunting process,” she said. “It’s so difficult, almost impossible, to find somewhere affordable. I honestly don’t know what to do.” The state of limbo is one that has not relented since the April ceasefire for many residents displaced from southern villages, for whom returning home has remained impossible as fighting continues near their homes. Khaled Hajj, originally from Houla near the border, has been staying at a school shelter in the Salim Slem neighborhood in Beirut since the start of the war. He said most of those still living in schools are from southern villages where even temporary return remains too dangerous. “There are warnings almost every day, even for villages that aren’t directly on the border,” Hajj told Mada Masr. “Who is going to take that risk? No one.” As the talks toward a ceasefire and a regional peace drag onward without tangible breakthroughs, families are preparing for Eid al-Adha without any answers. “The only thing we can do is wait. This is a very difficult phase, God help us,” he said. The post Residents pack up to leave Dahiyeh before Eid al-Adha as Netanyahu threatens to ‘intensify strikes’ first appeared on Mada Masr .