The crumpled wreck of the car burned, its twisted chassis bent over on top of itself on the main artery that connects the south of the Bekaa region in eastern Lebanon, to its north.
When The National arrived minutes after the attack, firefighters desperately tried to put out the fire, as the ambulances rushed off with the injured man, along with the two people who were torn apart in the Israeli attack on their vehicle.
While much of the focus is on the latest Israeli invasion of south Lebanon and the mass forced displacement of Beirut’s southern suburbs, the country’s Bekaa Valley and the city of Baalbek are rapidly coming under attack – and the locals are feeling the pinch.
A few minutes away from the Thursday morning drone strike, in the town of Rayak, about 35km south of Baalbek, business owner Elie Maalouf is fuming at a war he says he never chose and that risks plunging the battered country into further chaos.
Slowly but surely, Baalbek and its surroundings, home to some of Lebanon’s most famous ancient ruins and tourist sites, were beginning to regain their economic footing after months of conflict with Israel that culminated in a 66-day Israeli bombardment campaign in 2024.
“Tourists had just started to come back,” Mr Maalouf said, with locals and foreigners – whom he jokingly calls “war tourists” – flocking to his winery over the past two months and boosting his struggling sales.
Mr Maalouf said he lost about $500,000 during the 2023–2024 conflict. Over the two years, he sold barely 1,000 units, compared with around 10,000 in prewar times.
The relief was short-lived. Israeli rapid destruction of vast swathes of Lebanon since Monday, after Hezbollah entered the war alongside Iran the day before, has quickly shelved any optimism.
“Now, we’re back to zero,” he said. Mr Maalouf decided to stay in his winery, which had been partly destroyed during the last conflict. Many others have decided to leave. Rayak, where his winery is, is now completely empty.
Driving on the road running north towards the historic city, along the stretch of road that cuts through two mountain ranges, shops lining the motorway are shuttered up from town to town. The roads rapidly empty out as you get closer to Baalbek.
Many residents of the area have already fled the Israeli escalation, following Israel’s eviction orders and bombardment across the south of Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburb.
They fear a grim repetition of the 2024 scenario, when Israel first invaded parts of southern Lebanon while they were pounding Beirut’s southern suburbs, before turning their sights on the Bekaa and ordering the mass eviction of the entire city of Baalbek.
Catastrophic situation
Hasan Ale, a Baalbek municipal official, told The National the situation was catastrophic for the city. “We expected it to be a very good season for traders, markets and tourism establishments,” he said. “Especially because this is the month of Ramadan, which is usually a very important period for restaurants, businesses and shops.”
Local traders had stocked up ahead of the Ramadan and Eid shopping period, expecting strong sales.
“But the war stopped everything,” he said. “Now people are leaving their homes around 5pm and many have already left the area, some even leaving the country.”
Baalbek had been preparing for a revival of tourism, he added. Cancelled in 2024, the prestigious Baalbek festival, a major driver of tourism to the ancient city, returned in 2025.
“The city has strong tourism potential,” Mr Ale said. “There is also religious tourism, with the shrine of Sayyida Khawla, there is hiking tourism in the surrounding mountains, and of course the archaeological sites.”
Cash-strapped Lebanon has pinned its hopes on tourism as a lifeline for its struggling economy, but recurring cycles of war are jeopardising those ambitions.
Mr Maalouf blamed Hezbollah for these challenges. “Militia and culture don't rhyme,” he said. While criticising the group for dragging the country into war, he said this is not a reason to see his neighbourhood, where Hezbollah holds sway, bombed and destroyed. “This is our community, and we have friends there,” he explained.
But Hezbollah still have staunch supporters in the area. Ali Qassem Ali, 39, who had to close his business because of a strike that targeted a building next to his shop, said he was ready to make the sacrifice. “Better than to live in humiliation,” he added, referring to Israel's daily violations of the 2024 ceasefire, which killed dozens, and prevented tens of thousands of displaced.
“We don’t want war of course, but our dignity is what matters the most. And we won’t accept Israel taking our land,” he added.
Hours after The National left Baalbek, the Israeli army issued eviction orders for several neighbouring towns, including Douris, which was then pummeled at dawn.
Mr Maalouf said he could not put his sadness into words. “But being sad, doesn’t mean you had to give up,” he affirmed.
