Beirut’s neighbourhoods have visibly changed. In March, as Israel’s attacks on Lebanon resumed, the primarily Shi’a southern suburb of Dahiyeh saw plumes of smoke rise into the sky. In downtown and primarily Sunni west Beirut, displaced people slept in cars, on the street or crowded into government shelters.
In the east of the capital, the response of the local Kata’eb militia – the military branch of the rightwing Christian Kata’eb Party – was to affix its flag, a red circle around a green Lebanese cedar on a white background, to every street corner. The message toward the displaced: ‘Stay out of our neighbourhood.’
