Since September 27, Israel’s war on Lebanon has expanded its brutal violence to Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, as well as many regions across the country.1 No less than 325 buildings2 have been destroyed south of the city where the radius of devastation (seen in the outlined gray zones) extends over 11.87km2, or more than half the capital’s immediate urbanization perimeter.3
The map tracks the “evacuation orders” issued by the Israeli Army warning the civilian populations of South Beirut between September 27 and October 28, 2024. Each order delineates a building or more as well as a number of urban blocks, where one or several impending strikes are planned. These orders are supposed to act as warnings. They are published in Arabic a few minutes to an hour ahead of the strike(s) on the “X” social media platform (formerly known as Twitter), mostly during the late evening hours. The orders instruct residents to immediately evacuate the premises within a radius of 500m (0.311 miles) from the targeted cluster of buildings (1-4), framed in red on an aerial photo clipped with specific landmarks in the neighborhood. The order is accompanied by a text listing the names of the neighborhoods targeted and justifying the forthcoming attacks in relation to their proximity to “facilities related to Hizballah.”
No less than 99 announced strikes extending over 152 buildings were counted between September 27 and October 24, 2024, and they constitute less than half the total number of destroyed buildings in this part of the city.4 Indeed, not all strikes are accompanied by an evacuation order. Still, the geography of the red crosses reflects the scale and intensity of the violence throughout South Beirut, all the way to the campus of the Lebanese University in Hadath, the borders of Lebanon’s International Airport’s runway, and the industrial areas of Choueifat. One blue mark indicates the single post-strike announcement made following the assassination of the secretary general of Hizballah, Hassan Nasrallah on September 27.