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Mapping Israeli Announced Strikes on Lebanon

Lebanon, Beirut, Beirut Suburbs, Tyre, War, Mapping, Urbicide, Politics, Baalbek, Dahiya
As Israel continues to expand its brutal war on Lebanon, more regions and localities are falling under fire. The repercussions in losses of life, homes, social and physical infrastructures, land and patrimonies, as well as rural and urban spatial fabrics are staggering.  

Since September 2024, the Beirut Urban Lab has mapped the Israeli army’s evacuation threats in South Beirut. Published on the X platform, the threats warn civilian populations of an imminent assault. Through this mapping, the Lab provides a record of the distribution, location, and intensity of the announced airstrikes. Similar mappings covering the city of Tyre (South Lebanon) and additional localities and regions targeted by Israeli violence are being added as they are produced.  

Dahiya

Dahiya is often simplistically presented as a “Shia ghetto” or “Hizballah’s stronghold,” dehumanizing and sectarianizing its 700,000 dwellers, while weaponizing its vibrant and diverse socio-economic fabric. The spatial production of Dahiya as a contested socio-political territory in relation to Hizballah and other stakeholders has a complex history that is summarized here.

Dahiya’s territory amounts to 15.4 sq.km (municipal Beirut is 21.3 sq.km). It incorporates the four municipalities of Ghobeyri, Haret-Hreik, Bourj al-Brajneh and Mrayjeh-Laylaki-Tahweeta, in addition to sections of the municipalities of Chiyah, Hadath and Choueifat. These municipal territories include dozens of neighborhoods which, as any ordinary neighborhood in other districts of Greater Beirut, are rich with a pulsating and dense urban life, centered on homes, street markets, bakeries, shops, bookstores, small and medium enterprises, restaurants, cafés, mosques, schools, universities, health facilities, sports facilities, government buildings, as well as public and open spaces.

Since 27 September 2024, Dahiya has been the target of 279 Israeli announced strikes, demolishing at least 361 buildings, averaging about 4.5 strikes/day.1 On the most violent days during November, Dahiya was struck with over 10 strikes daily. The most intensified attacks occurred on the night of the cease-fire when 34 announced strikes targeted Dahya. Haret Hreik is the most hit municipal territory, with 128 destroyed buildings, followed by Hadath (67 buildings) and Ghobeiry (62 buildings). Announced strikes are accompanied by additional unannounced strikes that are not featured in the map. 

The Israeli assault on South Beirut’s neighborhoods is implementing in all impunity its “Dahiya doctrine” (introduced during the 2006 war on Lebanon), annihilating the possibility of life in the locality and causing durable forced displacement. According to Martin Coward’s work, this assault is akin to urbicide, which is the deliberate destruction of buildings and infrastructure in ways that also disrupt social, economic and cultural networks, displace populations, and erase the collective memory associated to place. 

 

 

1 The extent of the damage is more extensive when unannounced strikes are taken into account. According to the CRNS, between September 27 and November 21, 2024, a total of 358 attacks (both announced and unannounced strikes) were recorded in Dahiya, affecting 1,821 buildings to varying degrees of damage.

 

 

Tyre

Tyre occupies the hearts of Lebanon's populations for its unique public sandy beaches and its laid-back lifestyle, with an old fishermen port, charming winding and narrow streets, and a long corniche welcoming visitors daily during the long months of the summer. The city is also renowned for its Roman archeological sites (hippodrome and baths) as well as its crusaders' cathedral.

Between October 17 and November 28, the city of Tyre and its immediate vicinities were subjected to relentless violence. The city's historic core was largely emptied of its population, receiving 10 of the 27 evacuation threats that cover 50% of the city’s total residential fabric.1 East of Tyre, the neighborhood of Hosh may have received the most severe and systematic bombardments and dozens of recently developed multi-story residential apartment buildings were brought to the ground. 

All in all, 29% of buildings in Tyre and its immediate vicinities, amounting to roughly 4,500 buildings, have received direct evacuation threats, followed by brutal airstrikes that severely damaged the city's fabric. 

 

1 According to the UN Habitat report “Lebanon-Building Destruction and Debris Quantities Assessment: South and Nabatiyeh Governorates”, 3,498 buildings were totally and partially destroyed.

 

 

Baalbek

With a history that dates back to over 11,000 years, and covers significant periods including Phoenician, Greek and Roman layers, Baalbek is one of Lebanon’s best-known tourist destinations. Located at the edge of the fertile plain of the Bekaa, the city owes its fame to the complex of temples, including the iconic six columns, which was declared a UNESCO world heritage site. The yearly summer festival has further amplified the cultural position of the city, notably during the pre-civil war years when it attracted the world’s legendary musical celebrities. Less known are the surrounding urban quarters where the marjeh (large green space) was once linked through water canals to the site of the temples, and where winding streets are surrounded by traditional mudbrick houses and larger lavish stone residences built at the turn of the previous century. These layers of architecture attest to the cultural and social diversity of the city and its complex histories.

Despite this wealthy cultural pedigree, the region of Baalbek is notorious for state neglect and the consequent poverty of its populations. Since the mid-1980s, Baalbek has also been widely associated with the political presence of Hizballah, and many of the party’s personalities draw their roots in its region.

More than any previous war, Baalbek fell under severe Israeli fire during its latest assault on Lebanon. Not only did the city and its temple fall within the perimeter of the evacuation threats of the Israeli army, but so did the surrounding agricultural fields within a wider area of 24.2 km2. In addition, several targeted evacuation threats were issued in close proximity to the main temple of Jupiter and the temple of Mercury. The images of the smoke coming out of the city with the background of these temples elicited a unanimous outcry across Lebanon’s populations who expressed severe fears about long term damage to the best-known national symbol of the country.   
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