Every night, dozens gather at the hillside to watch airstrikes rain down on the city’s southern suburbs. The ritual offers a window into the war — and proof that the once unimaginable is really happening.

Lebanon’s capital city is returning to a cycle of violence and destruction just as it was beginning to stabilize after years of chaos.

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli warplanes struck central Beirut and the city’s southern suburbs on Tuesday, raising smoke over the Lebanese capital ahead of a planned vote by Israel’s leadership on whether to accept a U.S.-brokered ceasefire aimed at ending more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah militants.