Among the 90,000 people the UN estimates have been driven from their homes by Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon are Hussein, his wife Amal, and daughter Badia.
On Monday they left the ancient coastal town Adloun, located between Tyre and Sidon, where Israel bombed a Hizbullah arms depot in July, killing a fighter.
Speaking by phone, Hussein says, “The [main coast] road was totally blocked. A woman gave birth on the road, people fell ill in the heat, there was no water, no food and ambulances could not reach.”
To avoid remaining stuck, Hussein turned off and went through the mountains until he turned towards Beirut and reached his sister’s house in the Dahiya, a Hizbullah stronghold in east Beirut, after 10 hours. His brother Hassan and his family who left later stayed on the highway and arrived after 10 weary hours.
On Tuesday evening Israel struck a building in Dahiya, targeting Hizbullah commander Ali Karaki, but the movement claimed he had been moved to a safe place. As Dahiya was clearly unsafe, Hussein and Hassan followed the example of Palestinians in Gaza to become displaced a second time. They and other family members took to the hills in the Aley district and found a flat in the Druze resort village of Kfarmatta.
“The rent is two, three, four times normal,” Hussein says. “We are 14. Some of us sleep up [on a bed], some down [on the floor]. We are fine. The sky is blue. We can hear bombing from Nabatiyeh and other places.”
Their home village is being struck.
“Ali’s home was damaged and his car destroyed by an Israeli strike on a neighbour’s house,” Hussein says. “My house lost all its glass. One person was hurt. Israel bombs whole villages to hit one Hizbullah. It doesn’t care about civilians.”
Hussein and his wife worked for a decade in Saudi Arabia to save money to build their house. After returning to Beirut, he worked as a tour guide until the number of tourists coming to Lebanon began to drop, and subsequently drove for all comers.
Hizbullah is present in cities, towns and villages throughout the south and the Bekaa valley. The disadvantaged Shia community is Lebanon’s largest, comprising 27-29 per cent of the population.
Modelled on the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, Shia Hizbullah operates clinics, schools, orphanages, hospitals and welfare services and provides aid for children’s education. Hizbullah is also a political party which, with allies, holds 58 seats in Lebanon’s 128-seat parliament, and has named ministers in the caretaker government under prime minister Najib Mikati.
While Israel has targeted mainly Shia villages, Christian villages have been bombed and Christian refugees have flooded into Beirut and the Maronite Catholic mountain villages north of the capital.
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