Lebanese return home to border villages, braving danger and desolation

Israeli forces have killed 24 people in two days but many villagers remain undeterred

A man is evacuated after being shot by Israeli troops stationed in the southern Lebanese village of Yaroun on Tuesday. AFP

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No house has been left standing in the southern Lebanese village of Dhayra, a Bedouin community next to the Israeli border. Residents who fled the attacks on the village have watched videos from afar showing Israeli soldiers destroying their homes. However, for many, seeing the destruction up close has caused a different pain.

“We knew it was destroyed, but you can’t truly imagine the devastation until you see it,” said Baker Abou Ghrayeb.

Many villagers returned to Dhayra on Sunday, which was the deadline for the Israeli army to withdraw from south Lebanon as part of a 60-day ceasefire deal that halted the war with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. However, Israeli forces had failed to leave and fired on locals attempting to return, killing 22, including a soldier in Dhayra.

It was later announced that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to extend the deadline until February 18. On Monday, the Israeli army said it had redeployed its forces in the area, and told residents to stay away. A further two people were killed and 17 wounded.

Dhayra, like many other border villages, is a central point of the war. Mr Abou Ghrayeb said many residents who returned on Sunday struggled to find where their houses once stood. He did not realise a pile of rubble was his home until he saw a nearby pine tree, which used to mark his property.

Travelling to the area reveals desolation. The Israeli army has dug up the road to the village, leaving it dotted with potholes. Trees along the street are either uprooted or scorched. All the essentials for life seem to have been destroyed: water tanks have been knocked to the ground, solar panels lie shattered, and minarets rest on top of mounds of rubble.

Hebrew graffiti on walls indicates the presence of Israelis. One read: “The Jews are coming.”

Israel's widespread use of white phosphorus has seen many villagers' crops burnt to ruin in an area heavily dependent on agriculture. Nada Atallah / The National

The destruction worsens as you move closer to the border. Some experts have suggested Israel is deliberately trying to render the land uninhabitable to create a buffer zone and prevent Hezbollah from redeploying in the area.

But southern Lebanese are adamant they will stay. “You need to understand, we're deeply attached to the land. You could give me 10 houses in Beirut, and I would still come back here,” said Mr Abou Ghrayeb. “But we need money to rebuild. With compensation, it will take five years … without it, a hundred years.”

Questions over funding for reconstruction remain. Residents cannot afford much. Like many, Mr Abou Ghrayeb lost his job when his workshop was destroyed in an Israeli air strike. He has been displaced for months. Israel's widespread use of white phosphorus, which has been denounced by right groups, has seen many of the villagers' crops burnt to ruin in an area heavily dependent on agriculture.

Israeli threats

The border region remains highly volatile. In Dhayra, where the Israeli army did appear to have withdrawn by Monday, the buzz of drones could still be heard overhead. The army shot at residents who ventured too close to the border.

Yet locals are undeterred. They have been drinking tea, smoking narguileh next to their collapsed houses and talking to neighbours they had not seen in months.

“I will come back every day until I can sleep here, it's my land,” said Wafa El Darwish, 48. She was resting on a mattress placed on the rubble of her home. She said seeing the extent of the damage killed her “from the inside”.

“If there is no guarantee of peace, I’d rather build a caravan. I don’t have the courage to lose everything again,” she added.

Dhayra is part of a Sunni Arab community, divided by the Israel-Lebanon border, with its counterpart, Arab Al Aramshe, on the Israeli side. Before 2000, thanks to a security zone north of the border, residents could visit each other's villages. Israel occupied southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000, overseeing security in the region. However, after the Israeli army withdrew, interactions between Dhayra and Arab Al Aramshe officially ceased, despite some people having relatives on the other side.

The contrast is striking between Dhayra and nearby Shia villages on the Lebanese side of the border, where children flash victory signs and proudly wave the flag of Hezbollah. The militant group has portrayed the war's outcome as a victory despite its immense losses, including the eradication of its top leadership and many fighters.

However, there is no such sentiment in Dhayra. For the first time, residents openly expressed resentment towards Hezbollah, accusing it of dragging them into a war they never wanted.

“What do we have to do with all of this?” asked Sabrine Fanash, 37. “I lost everything – my money, my house. Of course, Israel is the enemy, but Hezbollah didn’t need to drag us into this war to pursue its own agenda.”

Besides the loss of homes and infrastructure, Dhayra has also paid a human price. On Monday, locals attended the funerals of two residents: a Lebanese soldier who had been temporarily buried in Tyre and an elderly woman who refused to leave the village despite the fighting. Her body was only recently found.

“We’ve had enough. We just want to live in peace,” said Ms Fanash.