Fear of renewed war is changing the housing map in the Beirut suburb

Fear of renewed war prompts residents in the southern suburb of Beirut to change their places of residence, or rent homes in other areas, despite some of them owning intact homes that have not suffered any damage. Move decisions are no longer exclusively linked to destruction or eviction warnings. Rather, fears of the outbreak of a new confrontation have become an essential factor in choosing a place to live, even planning marriage and spending the years of retirement.

Testimonies collected by Asharq Al-Awsat reveal changes in the lives of families who chose to move away from the suburb in search of safety, while others continue to reside there while maintaining an alternative place to which they can resort when necessary. Among those who bear additional rent despite owning a home, and those who rent a spacious apartment to receive members of two families if displacement is renewed, security concerns take precedence over material and social considerations.

Nadia Houry's choice of her marital home was not a traditional decision. The newly married young woman, who had lived in the southern suburb before her marriage, decided to move to the Bchamoun area, putting the possibility of renewed war at the forefront of her calculations.

Houry told Asharq Al-Awsat: “When I decided to get married, I did not only think about the house in which I would live with my husband, but also about the place where my family and my husband’s family could take refuge if a new war broke out. “So I chose to move to Bchamoun, and I made sure that the building was safe and that the apartment was spacious enough to receive two families.” She added: “I preferred to bear the additional cost rather than find my family or my husband’s family forced to flee without having a place to receive them.” “I wanted to be prepared for any emergency.”

As for Lana Shuaib, a resident of the Al-Marija area in the southern suburb, she rented a small studio in Achrafieh, after she became unsure about returning to her home, while her father and mother left for their village in the Bekaa. Shuaib told Asharq Al-Awsat, “The situation is worrying, and security concerns are not the only thing that drives us to move away from the suburb, but also the living conditions left behind by the bombing.” She added: “The area is still suffering due to the amount of devastation, dust, and water problems... All of these factors make me look for another place.”

As part of the campaign launched by the Iraqi government to combat corruption, judicial procedures are continuing against those involved in financial corruption operations. In the latest developments in the campaign, Dhia Jaafar, judge of the Second Karkh Investigation Court, announced the recovery of an amount of 21 billion and 424 million Iraqi dinars from two violating companies accused of fraud. Jaafar explained that the violations were committed with the aim of benefiting from differences in dollar exchange rates in fraudulent money transfers outside the country.

A government source reported that Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi is preparing to visit Kuwait and Bahrain this week, as part of his series of visits to neighboring countries, after he had visited Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Iran.