Beirut woke to a dawn that would test a family’s resolve. Lamar, a six-year-old girl, was meant to celebrate her birthday with a grand party. Her father, Ahmed Qassem, had bought a pink tulle dress for the occasion, its subtle rhinestones catching the light like tiny stars. The dress, like their home, now hangs on the only wall that survived. Hours before the celebration, six bunker-buster bombs dropped by the Israeli army ripped through the heart of Beirut. Eight-story buildings in the Basta district collapsed, including the Qassem residence. Lamar’s life was spared, but her big day would unfold in a hospital, as her grandmother, her aunt, and a two-year-old cousin faced an uncertain fate.
With the dress freshly purchased in his hand, Ahmed watched his nephew recover belongings from the rubble. “Our phones, our money, our identification cards are there,” he told reporters. Yet those items were not found. Instead, the recovery yielded Lamar’s pristine pink jacket, Minnie Mouse pajamas, red sneakers, and a pink and silver purse that matched the dress. Ahmed gathered in his hands the treasures unearthed from the gray dust.
According to Israeli media, the objective of the strike was Hizballah official Mohammed Haydar. A neighbor named Mariam, whose home was lost to the blast, said that no Hizballah leaders were in the building and pointed to the ruined homes of relatives as she spoke. The scene stretched from the street to the horizon, with neighbors recalling what used to be a place of life now reduced to rubble.
Why do they do this?
At this moment, health authorities report 15 people dead and 63 injured. Amin Sherri, a Hizballah deputy, noted that none of the group’s leaders were in the attacked structure, while the fate of Haydar remained unclear. Ahmed spoke with a stark resolve: if those responsible killed his daughter Lamar, he would stand with the resistance. The emotional gravity underlined the city’s sense of vulnerability and anger.
The attacks were concentrated in central Beirut, with the neighborhood of Basta bearing the scars. Just over a month earlier, another bombing nearby had killed 22 people and wounded 117. This week, four distinct attacks struck different parts of Beirut, far from the southern suburbs, signaling a sharp escalation in violence. In Dahiyeh, the southern suburbs, bombs again fell, while in the port city of Tyre Israeli drones killed two Palestinian fishermen. The Health Ministry reported 24 dead and 45 wounded in Baalbek-Hermel to the east, underscoring how violence ripples across Lebanon.
The intensification of attacks in Lebanon does not grant Gaza’s civilians any respite. In the past 48 hours, the Israeli military has killed dozens of Palestinians across the enclave. From Basta, residents watch a reality they hoped would remain distant—the war in Gaza—begin to echo in their own streets. Ahmed, surveying the remains of his home, feels a mix of rage and helplessness. He hurled the once-pristine pink dress into the crater, a symbolic gesture for Lamar and the birthday that will no longer arrive. That moment sealed a harsh truth: the city’s calm had been torn away, leaving behind a memory pressed into the dust and a family learning to endure.
In the early hours after the blast, the city began the slow, painful work of counting the costs and tending the wounded. Emergency teams moved through the debris, while residents waited for news about missing loved ones. The tragedy reverberated beyond Beirut as the region faced a broader pattern of violence, with communities bracing for what comes next.