‘The memories stay behind’: hundreds of thousands flee the Israeli bombs in Beirut
The Guardian World
by William Christou in BeirutMarch 6, 2026
The normally vibrant southern suburbs are a ghost town, their throngs of people replaced by rubble and fires
The ding of half a million phones, a pause and a collective gasp: in an instant, more than 500,000 people had been made homeless.
Shooting in the air, panicked phone calls and honking filled the streets of Beirut as people began to flee. Thousands abandoned their cars and began the slow march to the sea, desperate to escape the Israeli bombs which they knew would soon fall on their homes, whether they were in them or not.
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Originally published on The Guardian World on 3/6/2026