Suspicion, resentment, trauma, destruction – Beirut on the edge

An Al Jazeera cameraman describes his attempts to report from Beirut, navigating fear and anger on the streets.

Beirut, Lebanon – “No phones!” barks a burly man as he sails past us on his scooter. I’m out in the city working with Al Jazeera’s correspondent, Ali Hashem. His friend and fellow journalist, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, who is with us, has just taken a picture of a beautiful old building, nestled among the usual shopfronts and apartments in a busy street in Basta, central Beirut.

Although the man is clearly a civilian – not an official of any sort – Ghaith is quick to heed his order. He apologises and puts his phone away, but the angry man has already turned the scooter around and is approaching, demanding to see the phone and the offending picture.

This kind of tension is more than just bubbling under the surface in this city. Beirut is on edge. In the past month, the city’s residents have experienced one traumatic event after another. First, there were attacks in mid-September as thousands of pagers and walkie-talkie radios belonging to Hezbollah commanders exploded in homes and public places, killing 32 people and leaving thousands injured.

This was followed by countless air strikes on what Israeli forces claimed were Hezbollah targets starting on September 20, mostly focused on Dahiyeh in the south of the city, next to the airport. On September 27, Hezbollah’s leader of 32 years, Hassan Nasrallah, was confirmed dead after Israel dropped 85 “bunker buster” bombs on a southern residential suburb of the city.

The September 20 attack ensnared many innocent civilians, including the family of Al Jazeera cameraman Ali Abbass who lived in the building adjacent to the strike. His son, Mohammed, describes being thrown off his bed as the apartment was engulfed in dust – and then hearing the terrible screams of the injured. Ali immediately moved his family to a hotel where Al Jazeera staff were staying, his wife arrived shaking, still suffering from shock.