CIVIL UNREST IN LEBANON AS FAMILIES DISPLACED BY WAR FACE FURTHER EVICTIONS

As Israeli airstrikes rock the Lebanese capital Beirut, activists and displaced families clashed with police over the forced eviction of displaced people sheltering in a once abandoned building, as distrust between Lebanon’s many sects grows. 

Photos and text by Collin Mayfield.

 

BEIRUT, Lebanon. Clashes broke out between activists, families and the Internal Security Forces (ISF) in Beirut’s Hamra neighborhood in late October after police tried evicting war-displaced families who were sheltering in an abandoned apartment building named the Hamra Star. Overturned, flaming dumpsters blocked Hamra Street. Protesters, shrouded in smoke, threw bottles, chairs and other rubbish at police, who responded by spraying protestors with red-dyed pepper spray. Some demonstrators, including teenagers and children, were bloodied by batons and riot shields. Women cried as their few possessions were thrown into the street by police who blocked their reentry.



Eventually, the Lebanese Army came to reinforce the police. Protesters hurled insults at the soldiers and police, while some protesters shouted their support for Hezbollah and its late leader Hassan Nasrallah. An Israeli spy drone circled over Hamra, its buzzing a near constant sound for Beirut. The IDF watched as the clashes unfolded below.




The Hamra Star was abandoned for nearly eight years and has been shrouded in scandal; the former hotel-turned-brothel was the scene of an unsolved murder. The building is owned by 13 people, but one landlord allowed displaced families to stay in the building — provided that they clean and restore it. The families entered the Hamra Star on Sept. 28, the day after a devastating airstrike in Beirut’s Dahieh suburb killed Nasrallah, along with at least 300 others, the vast majority being civilians.


Most of the families sheltering in the building were Shiites from southern Lebanon or Dahieh — two areas currently under heavy Israeli bombardment. Some are from border villages like Bint Jbeil, Shaqra and Majdal Zoun. First, they fled to relative safety further north, while still remaining in southern Lebanon. When nowhere in the south remained safe, many families relocated to Dahieh. They were displaced again when Dahieh came under heavy bombardment.



The families spent three weeks restoring water, electricity and plumbing to the neglected building, allowing some 256 people to shelter there. The police gave the families an unofficial eviction notice a few days after the renovations were complete. The families were told they had 48 hours to leave.


According to one activist at the protest, who preferred to remain anonymous, the displaced people who took shelter in the building were only used for free labor, and they were summarily kicked out after the renovations were finished.


The judge who ordered the evictions, Najah Itani, is the alleged sister of the landlord who allowed the families into the Hamra Star.


On Oct. 19, police arrived with buses to move the families to a different building in Beirut between Sabra and al-Madina al-Riyadiya. They refused to leave after realizing their newly-intended shelter couldn’t accommodate everyone and was located near a Palestinian refugee camp that could be a potential Israeli target.


The evictions were postponed until Monday, Oct. 21, when the police returned with riot squads and buses to forcibly move the families. The ISF blocked one end of Hamra Street, so residents and supporting protesters blocked the opposite side.


Police vandalized the families’ possessions and threw their mattresses in the street while using pepper spray to force the people out of the building. Several protesters were injured — including a 12-year-old child who was struck with a club. One man’s arm was broken. At least one person was hospitalized after being beaten by security forces. Police on scene refused to explain why the landlord decided to evict the families.






“Here in Lebanon private property is at the expense of other people’s lives,” explained Yara Assaad, an activist from Beirut. “The state is willing to evacuate this building where some people who are displaced came … [despite how] one of the landlords accepted that these displaced can come and settle.”


“The Moukafaha [anti-riot police] is literally hitting women even though they pretended to be soft,” Yara said. “They were literally hitting women and by force trying to take them out.”




Men who had been forced outside pried open the metal doors on the ground floor, assertively reentering the Hamra Star.


Ultimately, the Lebanese government reached an agreement with families and protesters. In a statement issued that afternoon, the ISF said that the “Public Prosecutor called [the ISF] and indicated that [the displaced families] be given an additional 48 hours to evacuate.” The eviction was rescheduled for that Wednesday.


Per The Public Source, most of the families chose to abandon the Hamra Star and return to Dahieh, deciding to take their chances under Israeli bombs than face another inevitable, humiliating eviction. Under 100 people, mostly women and children, decided to remain in the Hamra Star until adequate housing is found. About midday on Oct. 23, the would-be eviction date, an ISF officer visited the families to explain that they could remain in the building until the state finds a new shelter. However, the state returned that evening to tell the families to leave by night.


As of Nov. 5, some families are still in the Hamra Star. They are unsure when eviction will come, and where they will go next. The remaining families declined to speak to the media; they said that they hope the landlord will forget about them.


On Sept. 23, after almost a year of low-intensity conflict with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, Israel began operation ‘Northern Arrows.’ Israeli airstrikes have racked southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and Beirut area, targeting not only Hezbollah but also groups like the Amal Movement, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and Hamas. Several prominent commanders have been killed. As of Nov. 5, 2024, the Lebanese Ministry of Health reports that over 3,200 people have been killed, both civilians and fighters, and over 14,000 have been wounded.




Over 1.2 million civilians have been displaced by this war so far, but only about 190,000 have found refuge in government-run shelters, such as within schools converted for temporary housing. Over 44,000 displaced families are registered in government-run shelters — mostly in Mount Lebanon and Beirut governorates — per Nasser Yassin, the coordinator of the Lebanese caretaker government’s National Emergency Committee.


Beirut is at capacity. Hamra neighborhood, a once burgeoning commercial center of shops and cafes, is now overflowing with displaced families. Traffic chokes the neighborhood. Housing is scarce, and the displacement crisis has caused hyperinflated rents.


Lebanon has few state-run shelters, forcing those who can’t afford the expensive rents to sleep on sidewalks or public plazas. Other displaced people shelter with family, friends or sympathetic citizens, or they sleep in mosques or churches. The Lebanese think tank Public Works has urged the government to use Beirut’s many abandoned or empty buildings as temporary shelters for civilians displaced by the war. Lebanese citizens are picking up the slack, organizing to help shelter, clothe and feed the displaced.




Through October, other clashes between displaced families and government forces occurred after property owners filed eviction notices, such as in central Beirut’s Saifi Garden or the Ain Mraisseh corniche. Another eviction occurred at the ‘Hildon’ Hotel in Raouche, where roughly 600 displaced people sheltered. The government provided the evictees with no alternative shelter, and one person was arrested — not to be released until after the Hildon was vacated.




In Christian, Sunni and Druze-majority areas, potential Israeli retaliation scares many from hosting Shiites displaced from areas with an alleged Hezbollah presence, though my Beiruti friends say that the Israelis consider any area with Shiites to have a Hezbollah presence. Distrust is growing in Lebanon’s sectarian society, as areas where Shiites found refuge have been subsequently attacked.


Israeli strikes have hit Chouf and Kesserwen districts, primarily Christian areas with marginal Shia communities. Another airstrike destroyed a three-story building in Aitou — a Christian-majority town in northern Lebanon. The Mayor Joseph Trad said the building was recently rented to a displaced family from the south. 22 people, including 12 women and two children, were killed.


Later on Oct. 30, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of the entire city of Baalbek, alongside the neighboring towns of Ain Bourday and Douris, prompting thousands to flee. Hours later, the Israelis hit the city with over 20 airstrikes, part of an expansion of their air campaign in the Bekaa Valley to “act forcefully against Hezbollah interests.” The Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported that airstrikes hit the northern and southern entrances to Baalbek, alongside the Ras al-Ain Hills, al-Asira, Amshki and al Kayyal Road areas. Displaced families from the Bekaa Valley are filling the Christian-majority town of Zahlé, once considered a safe refuge in the Bekaa Valley.


“The attacks are getting worse,” explained Rawan Khatib, a Palestinian refugee and activist who works with displaced children that are sheltering in Zahlé. “Now they [have] attacked [neighboring] Saadnayel.”


“It’s not like the [displaced] people have any choice in the matter,” Rawan said. “They need to be here [in Zahlé].” Rawan said she tries not to worry about Zahlé being potentially bombed, but also said that the Israelis “have no limits or red lines.”


“They are bringing down entire buildings!” Rawan exclaimed.


On Nov. 4th, the IDF attacked the overwhelmingly Sunni town of Zawtar el Charkiyeh. The next day an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building that sheltered displaced Shiites in the town of Jiyeh, which is mostly home to Christians and Shia.


In my Christian neighborhood of Mar Mikhael, Lebanese Forces (LF) flags now line the streets. The LF is a right-wing Christian political party, and former militia, long at odds with Hezbollah. The many Lebanese Forces flags in Mar Mikhael and other Christian-majority areas are a clear message to the Shia: stay out.

Follow more of Collin’s reportage on Instagram @Collin_Mayfield.