Hundreds of fleeing families sleep on beaches and streets after Israel's strikes shake Beirut
Hundreds of families displaced from Beirut's southern suburbs after the area was pummeled overnight by the heaviest Israeli airstrikes in nearly a year of limited conflict are sleeping in public squares and beaches or in their cars in the city center
BEIRUT (AP) — Smoke was still rising from Beirut’s southern suburbs Saturday morning, visible to many of the families who had fled their homes there the night before to escape Israel’s massive bombardment.
It had been a harrowing night — getting out amid earthshaking explosions, looking in vain for space in one of the overflowing schools-turned-shelters. By the morning, hundreds of families were sleeping in public squares, on beaches or in cars around Beirut.
Lines of people trudged up to the mountains above the Lebanese capital, holding infants and a few belongings.
Overnight, Israel unleashed a series of strikes on various parts of Dahiyeh, the predominantly Shiite collection of suburbs on Beirut’s southern edge where tens of thousands of residents live. The biggest blasts to hit Beirut in nearly a year of conflict killed the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, Friday.
