Dahieh (Arabic: الضاحية الجنوبية|lit=the southern suburb, French: Banlieue Sud de Beyrouth, Dâhiye de Beyrouth) is a predominantly Shia Muslim suburb in the south of Beirut, in the Baabda District of Lebanon. It has a minority of Sunni Muslims, Christians, and a Palestinian refugee camp with 20,000 inhabitants. It is a residential and commercial area with malls, stores and souks,[1] and comprises several towns and municipalities.[2] It is north of Rafic Hariri International Airport, and the M51 Freeway that links Beirut to the airport passes through it.
Dahieh is the Beirut stronghold of Shia militant group Hezbollah, and it had large auditoria in Haret Hreik, Hadath, Mount Lebanon and Bourj el-Barajneh, where Hezbollah followers gathered on special occasions. The area was severely bombed by Israel in the 2006 Lebanon War, and the Israeli policy of purposefully maximizing destruction of civilian infrastructure has since been known as the Dahiya doctrine.
Dahieh is home to one of the most densely populated communities in Lebanon. In 1986 the number of Shia living in Dahieh was estimated to be 800,000.
In the 14th century, there was a sizeable Shia Muslim community at Bourj Beirut. The community was first mentioned in a decree that the Mamluk viceroy issued against the Shiites of Beirut and the surrounding areas in 1363, demanding that they stop practicing Shia rituals.[3] In Ottoman tapu tahrir tax records of 1545, Bourj had a population of 169 households, 11 bachelors and one imam, all Shia Muslims. Shia of Bourj were also identified in al-Duwayhi's writings in 1661, and the town was then known as Burj Beirut (lit. "the tower of Beirut").[4]
Prior to the start of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975, Dahieh was one of the increasingly urbanized rural settlements outside of Beirut, with a mixed community of Christians and Shia Muslims. From 1920 to 1943 many Shia moved to Dahieh from Southern Lebanon and Beqaa Valley, where the French mandate cracked down on Shiite anti-French rebels in June 1920. More Shiites arrived in the early 1960s escaping financial hardship and state neglect of the countryside. By the start of 1975, 45% of Lebanese Shiites were living in Greater Beirut.[4]
Dahieh's population further increased during the Civil War. By 1976, around 100,000 Shia had been displaced from the East Beirut canton following sectarian violence in the Black Saturday and Karantina massacres. These included the prominent Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. Most of the displaced were destitute, and their needs stimulated Shia solidarity and self-reliance, which focused on the urban insularity of Dahieh.[4] An additional influx of Shiites arrived in Dahieh following the 1978 and 1982 Israeli invasions of Lebanon, both of which displaced more than 250,000 and destroyed 80 percent of villages.[5] Refusing to live under the Israeli South Lebanon Security Belt, more Shiites moved out of their villages to Beirut. By 1986, an estimated 800,000 Shias were living in Dahieh, the vast majority of Shia in Lebanon.[6]
See also: Dahiya doctrine. Hezbollah's television station, Al-Manar, was targeted in the area.[1] [7]
Hours after the August 14, 2006 ceasefire, Hezbollah pledged to reconstruct houses for the dwellers of Dahieh, and offered rent money for the time-being as an attempt to build better houses condenses.[8]
On September 22, 2006, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah attended a mass rally in Dahieh declaring a "Divine Victory" against Israel. Apart from mentioning Hezbollah having 20,000 rockets at its disposal, he also went on to criticize Lebanon's central government, stating it should step down and form a unity government.[9] According to the Hezbollah's "Jihad al-Bina' " association,[10] the reconstruction of Dahieh should begin from 25 May 2007, the day of the anniversary of the 2000 Israeli pullout from Lebanon.
See main article: July 2013 Beirut bombing and August 2013 Beirut bombing. On July 9, 2013, 53 people were wounded after a bomb exploded in a busy shopping street in the suburb; the blast came on a busy shopping day on the eve of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.[11] A faction of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) claimed responsibility; however, FSA spokesman Luay Miqdad condemned the attack, as well as another attack the following month.
On August 15, 2013, a month after the first bomb, another car bomb blast hit the suburb.[12] At least 21 people were killed and 200 injured in the massive explosion, the majority of whom children. A group linked to the Syrian opposition calling itself the "Brigade of Aisha" claimed responsibility for the attack.