Beirut, Lebanon – Earlier than Israel’s struggle on Lebanon, Ali (full title withheld for security causes) lived in Haddatha, a village within the Bint Jbeil district within the south, about 12km (7.5 miles) from the border with Israel, surrounded by nature the place agriculture was intrinsic to life.
Then got here Israel’s “hellfire”.
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At the very least 9 individuals have been killed and a few 3,000 injured, together with the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, when thousands of pagers exploded, practically concurrently, overwhelming hospitals on September 17, 2024.
Six days later, Israel escalated its assaults throughout the south, killing practically 600 individuals, in what was the nation’s deadliest day because the nation’s ruinous civil struggle led to 1990, and displacing multiple million individuals.
“Our home was destroyed,” he advised Al Jazeera. Ali took refuge in a city about 20km (12.5 miles) north of Haddatha, referred to as Burj Qalaway.
However greater than a 12 months later, he’s but to return house regardless of a ceasefire. He’s certainly one of tens of 1000’s who’re nonetheless displaced from their houses round Lebanon and who say that what little they’ve obtained in help from the Lebanese state or Hezbollah shouldn’t be sufficient to rebuild their lives or houses destroyed in the course of the struggle.
South ‘not protected’
On November 27, 2024, a ceasefire got here into impact between Hezbollah and Israel. The settlement delivered to an finish greater than a 12 months of cross-border assaults and a two-month-long Israeli intensification that killed 1000’s in Lebanon, largely civilians, and devastated civilian infrastructure.
Beneath the ceasefire, cross-border assaults have been alleged to cease, Hezbollah was to withdraw north of the Litani River, which runs throughout south Lebanon, and Israel was to withdraw troops that had invaded south Lebanon in October.
Israel, nevertheless, by no means stopped attacking. Its military nonetheless occupies 5 factors in southern Lebanon, and in the course of the ceasefire, it razed several villages to the bottom.
An estimated 1.2 million people, greater than 1 / 4 of the Lebanese inhabitants, had been displaced in the course of the struggle. On the morning of November 27, a whole bunch of 1000’s of individuals streamed south to their villages to return home. However tens of 1000’s extra have been left behind and are nonetheless unable to go house.
“The south shouldn’t be protected,” Ali mentioned. “I’m afraid that I may be strolling someplace and a raid will assault a automotive subsequent to me.”
Israeli attacks proceed throughout the south and the Bekaa Valley within the east on a near-daily foundation, with the Lebanese authorities counting greater than 2,000 Israeli violations of the 2024 ceasefire deal within the final three months of 2025.
Ali shouldn’t be alone. The Worldwide Group for Migration estimates that greater than 64,000 persons are nonetheless internally displaced in Lebanon, based on figures compiled in October 2025.
Complete villages ‘razed’
A number of the 64,000 can not return to their houses alongside the border area with Israel. Israeli troopers nonetheless maintain 5 factors on Lebanese territory, managing giant swaths of south Lebanon by means of violence and know-how: utilizing drones, air raids, shelling or gunfire. Because the ceasefire, Israel has killed greater than 330 individuals in Lebanon, together with at the least 127 civilians.
Melina*, from Odaisseh, a village on the southern border, lived most of her life in Nabatieh. Throughout the struggle, she was displaced to Sidon, a southern metropolis about 44km (27 miles) south of Beirut.
“I haven’t been capable of go to my village,” she advised Al Jazeera. “Psychologically, I can’t bear to see our home, which was fully destroyed, and your entire village was razed to the bottom.”
“The safety scenario stays extraordinarily harmful,” she mentioned. “You could possibly be shot at by the Israeli aspect at any second, and it’s unsafe to journey with out a Lebanese military escort.”
Ali runs a market in Burj Qalaway, however he says the earnings shouldn’t be sufficient to rebuild his house. There are additionally different issues. Israel has attacked reconstruction gear in southern Lebanon, drawing criticism from human rights teams.
“Amid the ceasefire, Israeli forces have carried out assaults that unlawfully goal reconstruction-related gear and amenities,” Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, mentioned in a December 2025 report. “After decreasing lots of Lebanon’s southern border cities to rubble, the Israeli army is now making it way more tough for tens of 1000’s of residents to rebuild their destroyed houses and return to their cities.”
Some Lebanese additionally fear a renewed Israeli offensive much like the one in 2024.
‘Couldn’t see 2cm in entrance of me’
On July 30, 2024, at about 7:40pm, Ramez* was sitting in his bed room at house in Haret Hreik, a neighbourhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs referred to domestically as Dahiyeh, an space typically focused up to now by Israel for the Hezbollah presence there.
His cats have been roaming across the room, and he was busy on his telephone when he heard loud explosions.
The struggle had been raging within the south, however assaults on Beirut and its suburbs weren’t but as frequent. “I heard greater than 9 bangs,” Ramez mentioned. He ran out of his bed room to assist his household evacuate. He left his door open, he mentioned, so his cats might escape. Whereas telling his mom to seize her issues, he heard the loudest bang.
“The entire neighbouring constructing simply collapsed and fell on us,” he mentioned. Israel had simply levelled the constructing subsequent to his, killing Fuad Shukr, a high Hezbollah commander.
“I couldn’t see 2cm in entrance of me due to the fog and the mud.”
Proper: Ramez’s sister’s automotive was destroyed within the assault on his house in July 2024 [Courtesy of Ramez*]
Ramez’s household escaped unscathed, although their home was badly broken and his sister’s automotive was destroyed. His cats additionally survived. He discovered them the following day.
“I at all times questioned how individuals simply undergo one thing like this and simply transfer on, saying, OK, Alhamdulillah, everyone seems to be alive,” he says, although, “at that time I type of understood it”.
Because the finish of the struggle, he has been capable of return to his household house in Haret Hreik. However his household needed to pay for a lot of the reconstruction themselves, with little assist from the federal government or any group.
They registered with the federal government for help however mentioned they obtained solely a one-time cost of 30 million Lebanese kilos (a bit greater than $330).
Hezbollah additionally despatched engineers to evaluate the injury. In December 2024, the Reuters information company reported that Hezbollah would pay about $77m and lease to households affected by struggle. Some locals mentioned funds from the group helped a bit, however others mentioned it had stopped paying nonmembers or tried to undervalue their losses.
“They have been very stingy with funds,” Ramez mentioned. “They tried to make us settle for low funds, however my mother stood her floor and mentioned it’s sufficient.”
Different individuals who have been displaced by the struggle advised Al Jazeera that the help offered by the state and Hezbollah was very restricted.
Battle is ‘most horrible’
Reviews are blended over Hezbollah’s monetary functionality, and it’s tough to find out how badly they’ve been hit financially after the group’s political and army management was devastated by 2024’s struggle and suffered a number of Israeli assassinations, together with their longtime charismatic chief, Hassan Nasrallah.
The fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria additionally dealt Hezbollah a critical blow, disrupting the land path to its primary benefactor, Iran – itself now reeling from deadly protests and bracing for a doable US attack. The group is beneath immense strain from the Lebanese authorities to disarm, with the US and Israel making use of strain.
Additional compounding the disaster is the truth that Lebanon is now nearly seven years into one of many worst economic crises in additional than 150 years, based on the World Financial institution. This has hit locals exhausting, with many having their financial institution accounts frozen and the forex devaluing by greater than 90 %.
This has left most of the displaced feeling deserted and uncertain of learn how to proceed.
There have been violent Israeli air raids within the south on Saturday, which continued on Sunday. Within the meantime, individuals like Ali must proceed determining methods to outlive as their displacement carries on properly previous the one-year mark.
“We love life, however the scenario shouldn’t be good. Wars break your again,” Ali mentioned. “Battle is probably the most horrible factor on the earth.”
*Actual names withheld for security causes.
Joao Sousa contributed to this report.
