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Exchange of Fire Drives Women, Children Out of South Lebanon Border Towns

The square in the town of Kafr Kila, opposite the Israeli settlement of Metula, appears almost devoid of activity (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The square in the town of Kafr Kila, opposite the Israeli settlement of Metula, appears almost devoid of activity (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Exchange of Fire Drives Women, Children Out of South Lebanon Border Towns

The square in the town of Kafr Kila, opposite the Israeli settlement of Metula, appears almost devoid of activity (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The square in the town of Kafr Kila, opposite the Israeli settlement of Metula, appears almost devoid of activity (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Bilal, a Lebanese engineer, decided to move his family from Lebanon’s southern border town of Aita Shaab to Tyre on the second day of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The war is now in its third week. Tensions have risen along the Lebanon-Israel border, where Hezbollah members are exchanging fire with Israel.

For now, those exchanges remain limited to a handful of border towns and Hezbollah and Israeli military positions on both sides.

Bilal commutes daily from the city of Tyre to his hometown to continue his work.

“I head out in the morning from Tyre to Aita and return in the evening,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He added that there is no room for fear as long as the course of the battle continues within the conflict zones.

However, at the same time, he states that he managed to safeguard his small family and his two newborn children from the sounds of the shells.

Like the circumstances of many, Bilal’s situation mirrors that of numerous others.

Many have relocated their families to safer areas in Beirut, Sidon, and Tyre.

They return to their villages in the morning and leave in the evening to continue their work.

Residents of the border region say that Syrian workers are the only ones who have completely evacuated.

As for the inhabitants of the border villages, approximately 20% of them have returned.

Most of them leave the villages in the evening, but in the morning, they resume their work in agriculture, livestock farming, and other sectors.

Asharq Al-Awsat conducted visits to several border villages in southern Lebanon, and the situation does not appear normal.

In the village of Kafr Kila, overlooking the border, the town is nearly devoid of women and children, except for around 20 households whose residents either cannot leave due to their financial circumstances or their involvement in local jobs.

“However, the town’s youth have not abandoned it, prepared for any emergency, and the situation has not reached a point of permanent departure yet,” as per Mohammed, who is currently residing in Kafr Kila.

Not far away, a sense of confusion prevails in the town of Khiam.

After approximately 90% of its population fled to neighboring villages and Beirut over the past week, today, 20% of them are returning.

“The situation is expected to prolong, possibly for more than a month,” said Abbas, who owns a local grocery store.

“We can't stay away from our homes given the economic reality outside Khiam. We've returned to work, even at a slower pace. Those who remained steadfast here, whether locals or others, deserve our support for what they’re enduring,” added Abbas.

“We have some of the necessary supplies like chicken and basic groceries that the residents of nearby towns lack since most of the large stores, groceries, and bakeries have closed there,” he explained.

In Qlaiaa, the Christian town that provided refuge for Shiite residents who fled during the 2006 war, there’s no room for further displacement this time around.

“The circumstances are different now, and we have no available rental homes,” said Charbel, a Qlaiaa local.

Life in Qlaiaa seems relatively normal. Some farmers have begun the olive harvesting season, and local olive oil mills have opened their doors, producing olive oil.

However, Charbel does not hide the fact that only about forty families from the original town population remain permanently.

The rest have left for Beirut, fearing a repeat of the July 2006 war.

“No one knows the consequences, and live fire continues to be heard, leaving fear within homes,” Charbel told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The town, where the Lebanese Forces party holds substantial influence, strongly opposes any missile launches from its vicinity.

Locals believe that launching missiles from outside the town towards Israel would jeopardize the stability of the people who refuse to forcibly push some villages into the war.

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Lebanese Whose Homes Were Destroyed in the War Want to Rebuild. Many Face a Long Wait

FILE - A man pauses as he looks at destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - A man pauses as he looks at destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
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Lebanese Whose Homes Were Destroyed in the War Want to Rebuild. Many Face a Long Wait

FILE - A man pauses as he looks at destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
FILE - A man pauses as he looks at destroyed buildings in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

Six weeks into a ceasefire that halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah, many displaced Lebanese whose homes were destroyed in the fighting want to rebuild — but reconstruction and compensation are slow in coming, The Associated Press reported.
Large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, lie in ruins, tens of thousands of houses reduced to rubble in Israeli airstrikes. The World Bank estimated in a report in November — before the ceasefire later that month — that losses to Lebanon's infrastructure amount to some $3.4 billion.
In the south, residents of dozens of villages along the Lebanon-Israel border can't go back because Israeli soldiers are still there. Under the US-negotiated ceasefire deal, Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw by Jan. 26 but there are doubts they will.
Other terms of the deal are also uncertain — after Hezbollah's withdrawal, the Lebanese army is to step in and dismantle the militants' combat positions in the south. Israeli officials have complained the Lebanese troops are not moving in fast enough — to which they say the Israeli troops need to get out first.
Reconstruction prospects — and who will foot the bill — remain unclear.
In 2006, after the monthlong Israel-Hezbollah war, Hezbollah financed much of the $2.8 billion reconstruction with ally Iran's support.
The Lebanese militant group has said it would do so again and has begun making some payments. But Hezbollah, which is also a powerful political party, has suffered significant losses in this latest war and for its part, Iran is now mired in a crippling economic crisis.
The cash-strapped and long paralyzed Lebanese government is in little position to help and international donors may be stretched by the post-war needs in the Gaza Strip and neighboring Syria.
Many Lebanese say they are waiting for Hezbollah's promised compensation. Others say they received some money from the group — much less than the cost of the damage to their homes.
Manal, a 53-year-old mother of four from the southern village of Marjayoun has been displaced with her family for over a year, since Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, in support of its ally Hamas in Gaza.
Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes in southern Lebanon. In July, Manal's family heard that their home was destroyed. The family has now sought compensation from Hezbollah.
“We haven’t received any money yet,” said Manal, giving only her first name for fear of reprisals. “Maybe our turn hasn’t arrived."
On a recent day in southern Beirut, where airstrikes had hit just 100 meters (yards) away from his home, Mohammad watched as an excavator cleared debris, dust swirling in the air.
He said his father went to Hezbollah officials and got $2,500 — not enough to cover $4,000 worth of damage to their home.
“Dad took the money and left, thinking it was pointless to argue,” said Mohammad, who also gave only his first name for fear of repercussions. He said his uncle was offered only $194 for a similarly damaged home.
When the uncle complained, Mohammad said, Hezbollah asked him, “We sacrificed our blood, what did you do in the war?”
Others, however, say Hezbollah has compensated them fairly.
Abdallah Skaiki, whose home — also in southern Beirut — was completely destroyed, said he received $14,000 from Qard Al-Hasan, a Hezbollah-linked microfinance institution.
Hussein Khaireddine, director of Jihad Binaa, the construction arm of Hezbollah, said the group is doing as much as it can. Its teams have surveyed over 80% of damaged houses across Lebanon, he said.
“We have begun compensating families,” he said. “We have also started providing payments for a year’s rent and compensations for furniture.”
Khaireddin said their payments include $8,000 for furniture and $6,000 for a year’s rent for those living in Beirut. Those who are staying elsewhere get $4,000 in money for rent.
Blueprints for each house are being prepared, he said, declining to elaborate on reconstruction plans.
“We are not waiting for the government," he added. “But of course, we urge the state to act."
There is little the government can do.
The World Bank's report from mid-November said Lebanon's infrastructure and economic losses from the war amount to $8.5 billion. And that estimate doesn't take into account the last month of the war, Deputy Prime Minister Saadi Chami told The Associated Press.
“The government does not have the financial resources for reconstruction,” he said bluntly.
The World Bank said 99,209 housing units were damaged — and 18% of them were completely destroyed. In southern Beirut suburbs alone, satellite analysis by Lebanon’s National Center for Natural Hazards and Early Warning identified 353 buildings completely destroyed and over 6,000 homes damaged.
Lebanese officials have appealed to the international community for funding. The government is working with the World Bank to get an updated damage assessment and hopes to set up a multi-donor trust fund.
The World Bank is also exploring an “emergency project for Lebanon,” focused on targeted assistance for areas most in need, Chami said, though no concrete plan has yet emerged.
“If the World Bank gets involved, it will hopefully encourage the international community to donate money,” Chami said.
Ali Daamoush, a Hezbollah official, said earlier this month that the group has mobilized 145 reconstruction teams, which include 1,250 engineers, 300 data analysts and hundreds of auditors — many apparently volunteers.
The compensations paid so far have come from “the Iranian people,” Daamoush said, without specifying if the money was from Iran's government or private donors.
Jana, a 29-year-old architect, is volunteering with Hezbollah teams to survey the damage to her hometown of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon. Much of the city is destroyed, including an Ottoman-era market. Her father’s warehouse was hit by airstrikes, and all the medical supplies stored there were consumed by a fire.
Hezbollah officials "told us not to promise people or discuss reconstruction because there is no clear plan or funding for it yet,” she told the AP. She did not give her last name because she wasn't authorized to talk about Hezbollah's actions.