A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Israel is reporting its first eight military casualties from its ground invasion into southern Lebanon.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The ground operations are one part of a campaign against Hezbollah, which dominates parts of that country. Last night, Israeli forces conducted an airstrike that hit a building in central Beirut. Health authorities there now say that nearly 1,400 people have been killed in recent weeks.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Eyder Peralta is in Beirut. So Eyder, what do we know about what's happening in southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops have crossed over?
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: So look. We understand that the fighting along the border is fierce. Israel has described this as a limited ground operation, but we don't actually know what that means. What we know is that Israel has ordered the evacuation of some 50 villages across a wide region, and that region almost reaches into the central part of the country.
MARTÍNEZ: Eyder, I mentioned that you are actually in the capital of Beirut. What are you seeing there?
PERALTA: I mean, overnight, there was yet another Israeli missile strike very close to where I am. State media says the offices of a local health authority were hit and that seven people were killed, including two volunteer medics. But most of the strikes are happening just south of here in a neighborhood called Dahieh, and it's a Hezbollah stronghold. It's the same neighborhood where a huge blast killed Hezbollah's longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, last week. And yesterday, Hezbollah called reporters, and they gave us a tour of the damage down there. I want to play some of my reporting.
(SOUNDBITE OF FOOTSTEPS CRUNCHING)
PERALTA: As you get close to the sight of a blast, you see all these fragments of life strewn in the middle of the streets - handwritten notes, a colorful plastic plate, a laundry basket, the cushion of a sofa. It feels like almost everyone in this neighborhood has left. Stores are closed. Apartments are empty. But we find a guy in his mid-30s smoking a cigarette near a crumbled building. He doesn't give us his name for security reasons.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: There's no one left. Yeah, everyone left. It's only me.
PERALTA: He's a gamer - plays a commando simulation game. And he jokes that these days, the booms of the airstrikes around him give his games a more realistic feel.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: You know, I live, like, in a building like this one in the middle of nowhere. Like, they will hit that. Why not?
PERALTA: So why are you staying? - I ask him.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Well, I have electricity, water, internet and food. I'm good.
PERALTA: But that's not entirely true. He actually has two cats but has nowhere to leave them, so he won't leave his apartment without them. Hezbollah guide us through the neighborhood. At every bomb blast, they've put up a picture of their slain leader, Hassan Nasrallah. They stop at what they tell us was an apartment building. All we see is rubble, concrete, mangled metal, a fire still smoldering in the middle. A young guy climbs through the rubble. He wades through the smoke and pumps his hands in the air.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in Arabic).
PERALTA: "We will always choose death over humiliation," they chant.
MARTÍNEZ: Wow - so defiance despite the damage. Any sense, though, where all this is going, Eyder?
PERALTA: I mean, people here on the ground are simply worried about survival, but the world is watching Israel and Iran. It was just a day ago that Iran launched nearly 200 missiles to Israel, and so the big question is, how will Israel respond? The U.S. has said they don't support an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. But the size and scope of that Israeli retaliation could mean a de-escalation or the beginning of a much broader, much bloodier conflict.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Eyder Peralta reporting from Beirut. Thank you.
PERALTA: Thank you, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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