Lebanon: "Like a horror movie"

“I hope we can return to our houses—if there are houses to go back to.”

Alia* sits on the pavement of the school’s humble garden in Barja, a small town located Mount Lebanon, her face perplexed as if she doesn’t know what to do. Her mother-in-law, who has just undergone eye surgery, is trying to avoid the harsh sun rays.

The school Alia is sheltering in is overflowing with displaced people like herself. Sounds of children playing fill the air, yet it cannot mask the blasts of airstrikes falling on the surrounding hills and shaking the building.

“We’re from the southern border town of Khiam. We were forced to leave our home around a year ago when clashes started. And now, we were forced to leave yet again from the house we were sheltering in. We had barely started adapting, registered our kids in a nearby school, and all of it went away.” says Alia.

Before being forced out of her house in October 2023, Alia was working as a nurse. Since then, she has not been able to work, and the family has lost their source of income. 

In the last quarter of 2023, she spent two months trying to find a safe home for herself, her husband, and her two boys. They would move almost every ten days from one town to another, desperately trying to find a more permanent place to stay. Finally, a former colleague found her a house in the southern town of Kfartebnit, 20 kilometres away from her hometown.

On Monday 23 September 2024, a large-scale Israeli bombardment of south Lebanon started, soon spanning beyond to different densely populated areas of the country. Alia had only the time to pack up a few things and the family went on the move.

“We left the house at 1:30 am under heavy bombing from all around us. The traffic in the south was insane. We went to two towns first, but their schools were full to the brim. We ended up sleeping that night in our car. The next morning, we came to this school and thankfully we found a classroom to house us. But we have nothing to sleep on. Fortunately, I managed to bring two blankets with me.”

The scale of displacement in Lebanon is unprecedented, which surpasses the country’s capacity to house the displaced.  Main pressing needs people express are mattresses, pillows, blankets, and hygiene products, on top of medical care.

“This displacement is by far tougher than the first one. My children tell me they would rather die under bombing than to live like this. The school was shaking all night. We consider ourselves safe here for now, but what if Israel decides to target schools?”

When Alia last visited her house in Khiam three months ago, it was heavily damaged, with all the windows shattered but at least it was still standing. She is afraid that with the latest waves of Israeli strikes, her house might have been reduced to rubbles.

“I hope one day we can return to our houses—our original houses—if there are houses to go back to.”

“That night was like a horror movie”

“My name is Hassan* and I come from Nabatieh governorate, in south Lebanon. I used to live with my wife and three children in the southern suburb of Beirut.

Four days ago, we decided to leave our home with my family because we were worried about our safety. That night was like a horror movie; warplanes, airstrikes, you name it. While we were in the car, we could feel the ground shaking.

We spent the first two days in a house in another neighborhood of Beirut but then the owner asked us to vacate the apartment.

Now, we are here in Ramleh El-Bayda in Beirut. We are 20 members of my family, stranded on the beach. All shelters and schools are full. Where should we go? We have no place to go. It seems that nowhere is safe now. 

The situation is far worse than anyone can imagine. We have so many needs. When we left, we only took a couple of clothes and our documentation. We couldn’t even bring a mattress or a pillow. Last night, we slept on chairs. No one is helping us.

All I care about is the kids. The youngest of them is a year and a half old. How can I look out for my family?”
 

*Names have been changed upon request of the person to protect their identity. 

Testimonies were collected on 25 September in a school in Barja, Mount Lebanon, and on 30 September in Ramleh El-Bayda, Beirut.