Around the first week of July 2006, The Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers. Thousands of Hezbollah supporters went into the streets on Wednesday of that month celebrating the capture of those two Israeli soldiers. Playing fireworks and honking car horns throughout areas in the South, Bekaa Valley and Beirut”s southern suburbs were Shiite mostly dominate.
Below is a briefing of important dates and happenings which affected beirut and its surroundings during the 2006 war.
July 30, 2006, More than 100 people died as a result of Israel attacks on qana, the qana massacre of 1996, happened again 10 years later.
July 20, 2006, more than seven Brazilians were killed by Israeli airstrikes. Israel claimed to have bombed a “Hezbollah bunker” in the Beirut suburb, however Al-Manar dismissed this claim and said that the jets hit a mosque in that area.
foreigners and Lebanese were trying to flee from Lebanon by sea, to Cyprus and then to their home countries. Another way to fee was by land to Damascus, Syria, either to flee through its airport or to stay there as refugee.
Warships from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries evacuated their citizens to Cyprus, which soon became overcrowded with tourists and evacuees.
July 16, 2006, the bombarbing of the Dahyieh located in Beirut’s southern suburb resumed as an attempt to destroy Hezbollah targets and kill Hassan Nasrallah, the Shia Muslim radical group and Hizboulla leader in lebanon. Israeli jets also destroyed many bridges in that area which lead east to Hazmieh.
July 14, 2006, over 50 civilians have been killed, and Israeli jets dropped bombs on the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut. Also, the international airport came under attack once again.
On July 15, 2006, Several Israeli warships bombarded the Beirut port, lighthouses, and navy radars at the Lebanese army’s coastal base. One Lebanese soldier was killed while a few were wounded.
Hezbollah attacked an Israeli warship killing four Israeli soldiers. Israeli jets also dropped leaflets over the north-western tourism city of Manara Street and the rest of Lebanon. Many Children and adults ran into the streets to snatch up leaflets, which had a caricature of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a serpent and read: “Is the resistance … helping Lebanon? The resistance … is destroying Lebanon!”
July 13, 2006, Israeli attacks continued to target Beirut, the Lebanese capital. Israeli planes fired missiles at the Rafic Hariri International Airport, which forced its closure and diversion of flights, as well as damage to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television station, and the destruction of the Riyak Air Base in the Bekaa Valley in east Lebanon.
July 12, 2006, Israel attacked several targets throughout the country as part of an operation Israel claimed was aimed at recovering soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid earlier in the day.