Israel’s ongoing raids in Beirut undermine ceasefire negotiations

Over the past week, Israeli warplanes have rained fire on the Lebanese capital. On Tuesday, November 12, the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, posted evacuation notices on X, instructing residents of Haret Hreik, Ghobeiry, and Laylaki, neighborhoods in the southern suburbs of Beirut, to flee their areas.

“You are located near facilities and interests affiliated with Hezbollah, against which the Israel Defense Forces will act in the near future,” the statement said, which also included a map indicating the buildings that would be targeted. The first round of strikes began at 10:40 a.m.

Israel’s airstrikes have razed residential buildings in Beirut.

When Israel obliterates a residential building in broad daylight just as the US is ostensibly drawing up possible arrangements to end the bloodshed, it is made painstakingly clear to Lebanese here and abroad that Tel Aviv is not interested in a diplomatic resolution. These discrepancies reveal Netanyahu’s blank check, handed to him by the Biden administration, to eliminate Hezbollah once and for all by inflicting relentless terror on Lebanon's civilian population, just as we have seen this past year with Hamas in Gaza.

The evacuation notices are released shortly before the raids begin, forcing families to flee on a moment’s notice. Businesses are shuttered, employees stay home, plunging Lebanon into an economic crisis that it cannot afford after years of a collapsed banking system, hyperinflation, and capital control. Lives, livelihoods, and hope are shattered in an instant. Lebanese resilience is renowned worldwide, but how long can its people bear the unbearable?

Its capital is now a theater of hypocrisy, deception, and irony: while residents cry out for their lost homes, memories, and loved ones, the world stands by, calling for peace but making no progress in achieving this. Traffic jams are a staple feature of life in Beirut, but the roads haven’t caught a break since the start of Israel’s war on Lebanon. On my drive back from Tayouneh, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Dahieh, families were crowded inside their cars, seeking refuge from Tuesday’s strikes.

When asked if this week’s strikes were unusual compared to Israel’s previous raids on the city, Yara Sayegh, a lawyer and volunteer with local grassroots organization Truth Be Told, told Raseef22 that Israel was now “[striking] the city in broad daylight.”

This shift to daytime strikes and hurried evacuation notices is a significant departure from Israel’s earlier patterns established at the start of the war. It disrupts the workday, leaving people in a constant state of panic and confusion, further exacerbated by the mounting tensions and heightened anxiety that define daily life in a warzone.

“You are located near facilities and interests affiliated with Hezbollah, against which the Israel Defense Forces will act in the near future,” the statement said, which also included a map indicating the buildings that would be targeted. The first round of strikes began at 10:40 a.m.

Many of the displaced are not only battling the threat of Israeli violence but also facing systemic neglect and racism, according to Sayegh.

“The state is non-existent. People are forced to fend for themselves. The only ones who are acting in solidarity with the displaced are individual organizations,” Sayegh told Raseef22. “In Horsh Beirut, security forces kicked out several families, including displaced Syrian families, some of whom previously lived in the neighborhoods that are being targeted.”

Is an American-brokered ceasefire still on the table?

Despite claims of a ceasefire agreement regularly circulating news channels and social media feeds, Israel’s strikes continue every day, every hour, sending Beirut's residents fleeing for their lives. The disconnect between what is being said and what is getting done is palpable. On November 14th, Lisa Johnson, US Ambassador to Lebanon, presented a draft proposal to Nabih Berri, Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament, that was addressed to Hezbollah and Israel, according to two political sources who shared their intel with Reuters.

One of the main points of contention throughout the multi-party negotiations is Israel’s demand to freely “enforce” the conditions of a truce through military means. Berri publicly rejected the idea, citing it would ultimately violate Lebanon’s sovereignty. Amoh Hochstein, special US envoy, will be arriving in Beirut soon to continue negotiations, said Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in an interview held earlier today.

Yesterday, on Sunday, November 17, Israel struck a building in Ras al-Nabaa, a neighborhood in central Beirut, in the afternoon. Hezbollah’s Chief of Media Relations, Mohammad Afif, the target, was killed. By evening, another strike targeted the Mar Elias neighborhood, the purpose of which remains unknown. Lebanese authorities have so far confirmed six dead as a result of both strikes.

The evacuation notices are released shortly before the raids begin, forcing families to flee on a moment’s notice. Lives, livelihoods, and hope are shattered in an instant. Lebanese resilience is renowned worldwide, but how long can its people bear the unbearable?

When Israel obliterates a residential building in broad daylight just as the US is ostensibly drawing up possible arrangements to end the bloodshed, it is made painstakingly clear to Lebanese here and abroad that Tel Aviv is not interested in a diplomatic resolution. These discrepancies reveal Netanyahu’s blank check, handed to him by the Biden administration, to eliminate Hezbollah once and for all by inflicting relentless terror on Lebanon's civilian population, just as we have seen this past year with Hamas in Gaza.

For the Lebanese, violence around the clock means adapting, once again, to the eerie routine of going about their lives during a war—altering their schedules, avoiding certain roads and neighborhoods, and praying every night that their homes and loved ones are spared from the next strike in what is looking like a cycle of indiscriminate destruction with no end in sight.