![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Goktay](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/af54\/live\/110c3db0-7dcc-11ef-9ddb-051db3a0772f.jpg.webp\")
Goktay Koraltan \/ BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nLebanon is a country that knows war all too well. And it is not eager for more.<\/p>\n It still bears the scars of 15 years of civil war between 1975 and 1990, and of the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006. <\/p>\n But for some, including Beirut’s Governor Marwan Abboud, Israel\u2019s recent escalation already feels worse.<\/p>\n In the past 10 days, the country has endured mass casualties from exploding pagers and walkie-talkies, a wave of assassinations of Hezbollah military commanders, devastating air strikes – and the use of bunker-busting bombs in Beirut, which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “It\u2019s the worst moment that the country passed through,” said Abboud, who has no connection with Hezbollah. <\/p>\n “I feel sad. I am shocked by the large number of civilian casualties. I am also shocked by the silence of the international community – as if what\u2019s happening here does not mean anything.”<\/p>\n We spoke at the edge of Beirut\u2019s Martyrs Square, where many families slept in the open last night after fleeing Israel\u2019s strikes in the southern suburb of Dahieh – Hezbollah’s heartland.<\/p>\n They remain in the square today – unsure where to turn for safety, like many in Lebanon.<\/p>\n Asked what he thought Israel\u2019s plan was, the governor replied: “I don’t know but Israel wants to kill and to kill and to kill. May god protect this country.”<\/p>\n His parting words were bleak. “It\u2019s the saddest day of my life,” he said, his voice heavy with emotion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A few steps away we met an extended family, sitting on bare concrete, under the harsh morning sun.<\/p>\n Madina Mustafa Ali was rocking her seven-month-old baby Amir in her lap and reliving the trauma of Friday night.<\/p>\n “There was an explosion, and we got scared, especially for the children. So we ran away and came here. This is where we slept,” she said.<\/p>\n She told me the family will stay in the square for now because they have nowhere else to go.<\/p>\n Others are fleeing, some heading to the north of Lebanon. The south of the country is not an option – it’s being hit hard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Driving through the city we saw families on the move, some crammed into cars with thin mattresses strapped to the roof, others piled onto motorbikes. <\/p>\n Here and there, we saw people on foot carrying a few belongings. <\/p>\n This is the new landscape of Beirut: boarded-up shops, fewer people, and more fear – especially since Nasrallah\u2019s killing was confirmed.<\/p>\n Throughout the day, plumes of dark smoke billowed from Dahieh. The Hezbollah stronghold looked much weakened today – the two busiest streets were largely deserted, and many apartment blocks looked empty. <\/p>\n We spotted Hezbollah members, guarding an air strike location, one brandishing a Kalashnikov. A sign of tension, or desperation – as normally the armed group doesn’t show its weapons on the streets.<\/p>\n Hezbollah was not watching our every move today – they were more focused perhaps on the threat from above.<\/p>\n We, too, were keeping an eye on the skies, where there were drones.<\/p>\n At the location of one Israeli strike, we saw smoke still rising from the ruins of what appeared to be a factory. We were told it made kitchen roll, and there was plenty of that shredded on the ground.<\/p>\n Lebanon has been rendered a war zone, but there are risks growing for the entire Middle East. And plenty of questions.<\/p>\n Will Hezbollah hit back hard at Israel? Can it?<\/p>\n Will its Iranian backers intervene? Until now they have been in no rush.<\/p>\n And will Tehran’s other regional proxies – in Iraq, Syria and Yemen – get more involved?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Goktay](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/f2f7\/live\/e9bc08c0-7dbd-11ef-b66d-034eed51208d.jpg.webp\")
Goktay Koraltan \/ BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Goktay](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/c0b0\/live\/2d9e8870-7dbd-11ef-99a6-b5fca80b19f5.jpg.webp\")
Goktay Koraltan \/ BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Goktay](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/50f5\/live\/a6aef6f0-7dbd-11ef-bda7-e1427314c99f.jpg.webp\")
Goktay Koraltan \/ BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n