Dahieh

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Satellite photographs of the Haret Hreik neighborhood [Dahyeh district] of Beirut, Lebanon, before and after 22 July 2006. See also high resolution photographs before and after.
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Satellite photographs of the Haret Hreik neighborhood [Dahyeh district] of Beirut, Lebanon, before and after 22 July 2006. See also high resolution photographs before and after.

Dahieh, sometimes spelled as Dahiyeh, (Arabic: الضاحية, also الضاحية الجنوبية al-Dahiya al-Janubiya; meaning "the southern suburb") is a mainly Shi'ite Muslim district of southern Beirut, Lebanon, it is located north of the Rafic Hariri International Airport, with the Airport Road passing through it. Prior to the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, it was a residential area as well as a commercial area with malls and stores. It was also the Beirut stronghold of the Shi'ite Islamist militant group, Hezbollah, and it had a large auditorium in Haret Hreik where Hezbollah followers gather during special occasions. Sometimes, its leader Hassan Nasrallah would be among the guests of honour. Some government offices have been restricted from operating in Dahieh as long as Hezbollah influence was present.

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[edit] 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict [1]

On July 13, 2006, Israeli jets dropped leaflets over Dahieh warning residents to evacuate the area before carpet-bombing the neighbourhood to rubble, destroying churches, orphanages, and hospitals in the process. Israel expected Lebanese citizens to submit humbly to Israeli orders to evacuate. However, not everyone managed to flee the town, and those who did escape became refugees within the mainland "north" Beirut. Those who remained behind were bombed round-the-clock.

Investigations by Human Rights Watch were unable to earth even a single instance of Hezbollah hiding weapons or guerrillas among civilian population centres like Dahieh. Hezbollah military installations, according to Israeli major Lior Taylor, a veteran of two Israeli invasions of Lebanon, tend to be "in outlying bunkers" away from civilian areas.

The neighbourhood of Dahieh continued to be a frequent target of Israeli jets and warships. The Hezbollah auditorium and residential areas were destroyed according to Lebanese, Arab and western media. Hezbollah's television station, Al-Manar, was also targeted in the area.

Hours after the August 14, 2006 ceasefire, Hezbollah pledged to reconstruct houses for the dwellers of Dahieh, and it offered rent money for the time-being as attempt to build better houses condenses[2].

[edit] Current events

On September 22, 2006, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah attended a mass rally in Dahieh declaring a "Divine Victory" against Israel. Apart from mentioning Hezbollah having 20,000 rockets at its disposal, he also went on to criticize Lebanon's central government, stating it should step down and form a unity government. [3]

On October 6, 2006, one person was killed and three others wounded in a clash between Internal Security Forces "ISF" and residents of Beirut's southern suburbs. The clash broke out as personnel were working on eliminating illegally constructed homes on private properties in a neighbourhood near the international airport. [4]

On December 1, 2006, people rallied from Dahieh and across certain Shi'ite neighborhood to demostrate at Downtown Beirut against the current government of Fouad Siniora. However, the protest, along with the declared sit-in, will continue until Fouad Siniora's government abdicates.[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Free Patriotic Movement's live news report during the war, http://www.tayyar.org
  2. ^ Boston.com
  3. ^ AlJazeera International
  4. ^ The Daily Star (Lebanon)
  5. ^ AlJazeera International

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../d/a/h/Dahieh.html"