The army checkpoints at the entrance of Dahiyeh, the southern suburb of Beirut where airstrikes have frequently hit what Israel claimed to be Hezbollah targets, were left unmanned. The soldiers that usually stood guard were nowhere to be seen, though there were no cars passing through for them to check anyway.
On its largely empty streets it seemed as if residents had left in a hurry. An orange juice seller’s cart stood abandoned on the side of the road, a pile of soot-covered oranges left to rot. Aluminium shutters had been pulled down over shopfronts lining the neighbourhood’s main thoroughfare.
