BBC traces how Israeli strikes brought devastation to Lebanon — BBC News

[0:03] At 2.15 on Wednesday, April 8th, a wave of strikes hit Lebanon. [0:09] A hundred bombs fell across the entire country in just 10 minutes. [0:25] This is the story of the chaos that followed. [0:47] This is what's left in Hayya Sillam. [0:49] It's a neighborhood in Dahiya where Hezbollah holds sway in the south of Beirut. [0:55] It was once full of life, bustling with people. [0:58] But on April 8th, as a normal day was unfolding, [1:02] multiple strikes landed across the neighborhood. [1:05] Mohammed was raising his children here. [1:35] Be careful with the wires, they might have electricity. [1:37] He walks us through the ruins of his home, careful steps over broken stone, [1:44] pointing not to what is standing, but what's been taken from him. [2:06] He's going to die and he's going to die. [2:10] This is the building that's going to be destroyed. [2:13] But he's going to come and say, [2:16] where is the house? [2:18] I'm not working. [2:19] There's someone who doesn't remember who he is. [2:21] He's going to leave the house here. [2:23] I have three walls that are in the front of me. [2:26] They all were in my room. [2:29] They were in my room. [2:31] They were in the front of me. [2:36] Mohammed Son Abbas was the family breadwinner. [2:39] If I know one percent of us that there was a house, [2:41] there was a house, there was a house, there was a house. [2:44] Everyone went here, there was a house. [2:47] But I don't want to give up the house to the house. [2:50] If there was a house in the house, I wouldn't be able to give up. [2:53] It's possible that I'm 45 years old and I don't ask for a house. [2:56] But I don't want to give up the house in the house if there was a house. [2:59] Following the death of his son, [3:03] Mohammed expressed his sympathies for Hezbollah, [3:06] asking it to defend Lebanon in an interview with local media. [3:09] That's a sentiment echoed by many people we spoke to [3:13] in areas that have been consistently attacked by Israel. [3:20] There were at least five strikes that hit Hayy al-Silom, [3:23] destroying multiple buildings in seconds. [3:26] The IDF would not confirm who they were targeting here. [3:30] But some Israeli media have reported that Ali Mohammed Ghulam Dahini was killed here. [3:36] He appears in this memorial poster, which describes him as a Hezbollah fighter. [3:42] While it's unclear who or what was targeted, [3:45] across Hayy al-Silom, what's certain is that the civilian death toll was enormous. [3:51] More than a dozen children were amongst the 80 people reportedly killed. [3:56] The IDF told us it takes extensive measures to limit civilian casualties [4:02] and accused Hezbollah of deliberately embedding military infrastructure within civilian areas. [4:09] This is a poor and very densely populated area. [4:13] I mean, if you look around me, you can see just how close all the buildings are to each other. [4:18] And to get here, we had to go through very narrow roads. [4:21] It's also the site of the highest number of fatalities in that 10 minutes that rocked Lebanon. [4:28] And it's because the rescue services couldn't get here in time. [4:32] People were stuck under the rubble, calling out for help, texting for help, [4:36] and they couldn't reach them. [4:37] Just four miles away, in the center of Beirut, is Kournish al-Mazra, one of the city's busiest arteries. [4:51] A ceasefire between the U.S., Israel and Iran had just been announced. [4:56] People hoped that perhaps, here too, the violence might pause. [5:00] But once again, at 2.15 p.m. that day, the streets were full. [5:08] The steady rhythm of life continued. [5:11] Business as usual. [5:14] A training session at a local gym. [5:17] A restaurant preparing food. [5:19] A busy supermarket. [5:21] And a barber mid-cut. [5:23] Another neighborhood, devastated. [5:56] 16 people were killed here. [5:58] Those who survived are still picking up the pieces. [6:09] Noha's gym is on the seventh floor. [6:11] It's the first time she's been back since the attack. [6:15] We're back, inshallah, after today's. [6:17] Inshallah, everything will be fixed. [6:20] We were five. [6:22] We were five. [6:26] If we didn't stay here, we didn't know what we were going to do. [6:30] We didn't know what happened. [6:46] We can live in a life like this, like the rest of the world. [7:12] Why? [7:13] Because Lebanon is beautiful in the world. [7:16] It's not the right thing. [7:18] Lebanon is beautiful in the world. [7:20] It's not the right thing. [7:23] What was there under here? [7:25] What was the goal? [7:26] The goal was the goal. [7:28] The goal was the goal. [7:32] Who died? [7:33] Who died? [7:35] Who died? [7:37] Who died? [7:38] Who died? [7:39] Who died? [7:41] Who died? [7:42] Who died? [7:43] Who died? [7:44] Who died? [7:45] Who died? [7:46] Who died? [7:47] Who died? [7:48] Who died? [7:49] The IDF told us they were targeting Hezbollah military infrastructure and command centers that day. [7:57] In just 10 minutes, a hundred bombs were raining down across Lebanon. [8:02] From Hermel in the far north, across the Bekaa valley, to towns and cities like [8:07] Sidon in the south. [8:11] This is the moment after Al-Zahra complex in Sidon was attacked. [8:16] Dozens of displaced people were using the center to shelter, shower and pray. [8:22] It's a religious compound with ties to Hezbollah, with a public mosque at its center. [8:27] Eleven people were killed. [8:29] We asked the IDF what it was targeting, but it didn't confirm. [8:34] What we do know is that Al-Zahra's cleric, Sheikh Sadiq Nabulsi, was killed in the attack. [8:40] He had deep ideological and family links to Hezbollah, but did not hold an official position within the group. [8:46] But another man killed here, Mohamed Ma'ani, did. [8:51] It has also been possible to identify seven of the other nine individuals reportedly killed here. [8:58] All the available evidence suggests they were civilians. [9:01] Amongst them were Rayyan and Rahma Shu'ab. [9:04] Together with their parents, Haider and Kokab, they were staying in a tent nearby, [9:11] displaced to Sidon from their home, which is around 10 miles from the Israeli border. [9:17] They came for safety, but their daughters were killed here. [9:40] The parents saw him, he saw me, he saw me. [9:43] He saw me, he saw me, he saw me. [9:46] After the appearance of the house, I told him to go to the temple and see my grandmother at the temple. [9:51] The temple was the temple. [9:52] I didn't take a half hour to the temple. [9:55] Haider and his family are amongst over a million people that have been driven from their homes [10:14] across Lebanon. [10:16] Along the road further south to Haider's home, the destruction is constant. [10:40] Testament to what this area has endured. [10:43] Israel says it's fighting Hezbollah and protecting its northern border, but it has turned entire [10:49] neighborhoods into ghost towns. [10:52] Still, Haider makes his way back to find out what's become of his home. [11:33] He takes us inside. [11:39] In his daughter's bedroom, everything lay as they left it. [11:48] He shows us Rayyan's laptop and Rahma's notes for exams she will now never sit. [12:02] His house is still standing, but it's no longer a home. [12:10] According to the Lebanese health ministry, 361 people were killed on April 8th. [12:17] Israel dropped around 100 bombs in 10 minutes, calling the operation eternal darkness. [12:24] To the Lebanese people who lived it, it was known as Black Wednesday.