Lebanon’s displaced begin to return home, but some have nowhere to go
Thousands in Lebanon attempt to return home after widespread destruction, yet rampant destruction leaves many trapped in displacement centres. Beirut, Lebanon – There are only
Thousands in Lebanon attempt to return home after widespread destruction, yet rampant destruction leaves many trapped in displacement centres. Beirut, Lebanon – There are only a few dozen blue tents remaining near Beirut’s waterfront, a far cry from the hundreds that have sheltered Lebanon’s displaced in recent months. The agreement to end the war between the United States and Iran – which ostensibly includes an end to Israel’s strikes on Lebanon – has encouraged thousands of Lebanese to start returning to their homes in areas, primarily in the south of the country, that bore the brunt of the attacks. As the midday sun beat down on a car park where a few tents still stood, a mother from Nabi Chit, a village in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, walked towards a neighbour’s tent so she could fill up a bottle of water. A battle in March between Israeli troops and local residents killed more than 40 people in Nabi Chit. The woman, who asked that her name be withheld, and her daughter first fled their home for Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh. Then they moved to Beirut’s waterfront, directly facing a luxury shopping area, about a month ago. She said that a lot of people had left the camp in recent days. Those who stayed – like her – mostly have nowhere to go. Her home was destroyed and she didn’t want to be a burden to others by staying in their houses. Left behind Israel’s second military intensification in Lebanon in under two years began on March 2, just hours after Hezbollah fired six rockets at Israel. Hezbollah was responding to months of unanswered Israeli aggression and more than 10,000 violations of the 2024 ceasefire, as well as the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, just two days earlier.
Since March 2, Israel has killed at least 4,247 people and wounded more than 12,000. It has also invaded Lebanon, razing villages and displacing more than 1.2 million people, some multiple times. People were forced to find refuge wherever they could, including schools that the Lebanese government turned into makeshift shelters and the Beirut Sports City Stadium, on the southern periphery of Beirut. But since the signing of the memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States on June 17 – and the framework agreement signed by Israel and Lebanon on Friday – many centres for the displaced have emptied as people try to return home, with the expectation that the worst of the violence has stopped. A few, however, have been left behind. Ali Saleh, 55, is from Jwaya in southern Lebanon. He fled on March 2 and eventually found his way to the Beirut Sports City Stadium. Ali told Al Jazeera that many displaced people had left the stadium to try and return home. But he was forced to stay in Beirut because his house was destroyed. Back at Beirut’s waterfront, Rami Mustafa explained that he had been renting a house in Choueifat, in Beirut’s southern suburbs. But he left when the war started and he lost his income, forcing him to come to the waterfront with his wife and three kids. Rami said he was a security guard and a car mechanic previously. Finding similar jobs won’t be easy – the war shut down many businesses and forced him to stay in a tent at the waterfront until he can earn enough to leave. “I need to work for a month or so [to save enough money] before I can go rent a house again,” Rami said. Closer to home Some have decided to leave the areas they’ve been displaced to, even if they can’t get all the way home to their towns and villages in southern Lebanon.
The BriefWire