Lebanese villagers return to find homes in ruins

Abed Hachem rebuilt his home when it was damaged in a conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militants in 2024, but is at a loss now that most of his village has been destroyed in Israel's latest round of strikes. Where his house once stood in Qlaileh is now rubble; where his garden bloomed, dust, with more dust covering the toys and furniture strewn around the remains of his living room. "Oh dear... Oh God. There was a building here... here... there was a building here," the 46-year-old father of three said as he pointed to the husks of buildings that once housed his neighbors. The spire of the local mosque is one of few structures still standing. The latest round of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel erupted on March 2, when Hezbollah fired at Israel in support of its ally Iran, drawing Lebanon into the regional war. Israel responded with air strikes and a ground invasion that occupied parts of southern Lebanon. More than 3,900 people have been killed, and 1.2 million people have been displaced, with Israel's forced evacuation orders emptying entire villages in southern Lebanon. Israel says its campaign was aimed at Hezbollah's forces and military infrastructure. Now, as people like Hachem return to their homes and try to stitch their lives back together, they are reckoning with the heartbreak of seeing their communities wiped out. "The whole village is destroyed. My house is destroyed. The village is destroyed. Where are we supposed to go now?" he said. "There is nothing left. A lifetime's work is all gone." His neighbor, a man Hachem saw as a brother, and with whom he shared a cup of tea every morning, has been killed, along with his son. "They have nothing to do with political parties, nothing to do with weapons, nothing to do with wars," he added, his frustration mounting. "The man was just trying to support his family, and he and his son died for nothing." The interim deal announced between the United States and Iran brought a lull to the fighting in Lebanon earlier this week, allowing displaced people like Hachem to return home. Fighting flared again before a new ceasefire came into effect on Friday afternoon. Hachem just wishes peace had come sooner. "This agreement they reached, they should have made it from the very beginning," he said. "Not after people were destroyed."