Father Fadi Felfeli risked his life on the access road from Debel to Rmeish on Saturday to retrieve the coffins of two Debel residents – a father and son killed in an Israeli strike on the road earlier that day, near south Lebanon’s demarcation line with Israel.
“The Lebanese army couldn’t escort me,” the priest told The National. “They said, 'you’re going on a road where the Israeli army is [advancing]. If you have to go, God be with you’.”
“So I went and got the coffins. We had no other choice.”
He and a group of villagers managed to safely retrieve the coffins. But the episode was a dark sign of the days to come. Supplies in south Lebanon’s front line Christian villages – among the last few that remain populated in defiance of Israeli forced displacement orders – are rapidly dwindling.
Georges Soueid and his son, Elie, had been trying to bring back much-needed supplies from the neighbouring village of Rmeish when they were killed by Israeli fire on what residents believed was the last safe road out of Debel. That road is now too dangerous to use for civilians, aid organisations and the Lebanese army – leaving thousands stranded and effectively besieged as fighting rages between Israel and Hezbollah.
“That road is no longer a lifeline. Now it’s a road of death,” said locally elected official Joseph Attieh, a resident of Debel.
Lebanese army withdrawal
The Christian-majority villages of Debel, Rmeish and Ain Ebel have largely been spared the destruction seen elsewhere, even as Israeli forces advance into Lebanese territory with the stated aim of establishing a “security zone” up to the Litani River – a plan that would render nearly 10 per cent of the country inaccessible to residents and the state.
Israel’s invasion follows the collapse of a fragile, if one-sided, truce that had held since late 2024. On March 2, Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and more than a year of Israeli ceasefire violations – dragging an unwilling Lebanon into war as Israel launched a widespread campaign of air strikes followed by a ground invasion.
The Lebanese army – underfunded, under-equipped, and rendered impotent by circumstances beyond its control – is unable to defend itself or the civilians who have chosen to stay. It withdrew from positions near Ain Ebel and Rmeish on Tuesday, ending its ability to escort civilian aid convoys to the front line Christian villages, leaving villagers bewildered and angry. In Debel, the army pulled out more than a week ago.
South Lebanon’s Christian border villages denounced the Lebanese army’s withdrawal as a “betrayal of trust” and “an unforgivable sin”, accusing the state of abandoning its responsibilities “in the darkest of times”.
“We will defend ourselves with whatever means are available,” a statement from the villages said.
“We don't have an army or a state left here any more,” said Imad Lallous, who lives in Ain Ebel. He is among 1,350 residents remaining in his village, situated 5km from the demarcation line with Israel. In Rmeish, 6,500 residents have chosen to stay, while about 1,700 people are making a last stand in Debel.
The army “redeployed” due to “Israeli escalation”, a Lebanese security source told The National. “As the Israelis advance the LAF would be surrounded and besieged, cut off from the rest of the country. We do not have the means to face the Israelis over there.”
‘There are no guarantees'
A small contingent of LAF soldiers has remained in Rmeish to operate a medical clinic, a security source told The National – a largely symbolic state presence as Israeli forces advance. For residents of Debel and Ain Ebel, even that is effectively out of reach.
Elie Soueid initially survived the Israeli attack on him and his father, but was bleeding heavily from a wound to his femoral artery, Fr Felfeli told The National.
“We could have saved him, but the Lebanese Red Cross couldn’t get near us because the road wasn’t safe,” he said.
Fighting around Debel is fierce as Hezbollah battles Israel’s invasion. While the Israeli army has refrained from entering the village, Fr Felfeli and other residents said it was frequently shelled.
“Missiles are falling near houses. Yesterday, about five missiles fell near homes,” he said. “We’re exposed.” Despite the danger, he still leads weekly mass at his church, which his congregants risk their lives to attend.
Since the killing of the Soueids, residents of the village have limited their movements, largely confining themselves to their homes despite the looming shortages.
“At least we would die at home. It’s more honourable than dying in the street,” said Mr Attieh.
Any attempt to travel between the villages is co-ordinated with the Lebanese army or with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon. But even then, there are no guarantees. Despite the co-ordination, UN and Lebanese security officials say they cannot “deconflict” individual civilian movements – a process requiring the use of an international mechanism involving the US, France and Israel.
Nor can the army provide escorts.
“Usually the army responds with ‘the situation is too dangerous',” Fr Fadi said. With no protection or safe passage, civilians have no choice but to wait for occasional aid convoys, or risk their lives for supplies.
Aid access
As conditions deteriorate, besieged residents of the three front line villages are calling for Unifil to establish a humanitarian corridor. So far, neither the army nor the UN have been able to secure one.
“No one is responding to us,” Mr Attieh said. “No one cares.”
Diesel shortages mean the village has only about two days of generator power left, he and other residents said. After that, unless an aid convoy comes, there will be no more electricity.
In all three villages, residents are relying on wells and other dwindling water reserves. Insulin is also running low, leaving diabetics at risk.
The International Committee for the Red Cross finally secured passage for a convoy to deliver aid to Debel on Tuesday. It was the first such aid convoy in 15 days, according to residents. ICRC brought food parcels, hygiene kits and a mobile medical unit – but no diesel or insulin.
The organisation warned that its access could be cut at any moment “due to intensified hostilities and damaged road infrastructure”, an ICRC representative told The National.
Even the Vatican’s ambassador, Apostolic Nuncio Paolo Borgia, was unable to secure safe passage to the villages and had to end his visit in Tyre, dozens of kilometres away.
“How long can we endure like this? Something must happen,” Fr Felfeli said.
Residents in the south’s Christian villages say they were dragged into a war they did not choose, started by an Iran-backed group they oppose, abandoned by the Lebanese state and exposed to the mercy of the Israeli army.
“We have no Hezbollah and no weapons. We're not fighting, and we didn't enter the war,” Mr Lallous said. “Tomorrow, God forbid, they will accuse us of collaborating with the Israelis because we stayed. But they abandoned us. We're Lebanese, we won't leave our homes, we won't leave our villages and we’re staying.”
