For over two months, the Lebanese population has been left in disbelief as Israeli airstrikes devastated buildings, creating massive explosions and billowing clouds of smoke across the capital and other urban areas.

Following a ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group this week, many Lebanese residents are cautiously returning to their neighborhoods to assess the destruction.

In the southern suburbs of Beirut, particularly in the region known as Dahiyeh, large sections have been transformed into barren landscapes of broken concrete where towering apartment buildings once stood. Video footage captured the harrowing moment when a rocket struck an apartment building in Beirut last month, erupting into flames and sending sparks flying into the air.

In Tyre, another city in the south, a dense cloud of black and white smoke ascended from the center of downtown like an approaching storm, moving over the Mediterranean after missile impacts. Meanwhile, in the village of Flawiyeh, a vehicle was found overturned, thrown onto its roof amidst a cluster of trees due to the force of an explosion.

The intensified bombing campaign by Israel began in late September with the objective of significantly weakening Hezbollah and ceasing its rocket attacks on northern Israel. This escalation followed months of constrained skirmishes between the two factions, which were provoked when Hezbollah began launching rockets into Israel in a demonstration of support for Hamas following its assault on October 7, 2023.

The heaviest strikes from Israel targeted areas filled with cities, towns, and villages across southern Lebanon, especially within the southern outskirts of Beirut where Hezbollah’s influence is most pronounced. Notably, central Beirut experienced a significant number of explosions for the first time in years.

The ongoing conflict has prompted the displacement of over 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes within a year, alongside tens of thousands of Israelis seeking safety on their side of the border.