Conflict-weary south Lebanon residents say war with Israel never ended
School bus driver Ali al-Dorr averts his gaze every time he passes the rubble of his son's home -- destroyed by an Israeli strike in south Lebanon despite a year-old ceasefire.
Though his son managed to evacuate in time, the attack left notebooks, papers and furniture strewn among the debris of the apartment building in Qannarit, overlooking the coastal city of Sidon, the scene of several strikes in recent weeks that Israel says targeted Hezbollah.
Dorr, 62, said he bought the flat for his son, who lived there with his family until the Israeli army warned on January 21 of an impending attack.
"I pass by here every day to drop off students. I turn my head, so I don't feel the heartbreak," he told AFP.
"At least the family got out alive."
Images of slain Hezbollah members and the movement's yellow flag can be seen at the entrance to Qannarit, a village surrounded by olive trees about 30 kilometers from the Israeli border.
It was hit by Israeli raids during more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah that broke out around the start of the Gaza war.
A November 2024 ceasefire was supposed to end the violence, but Israel has kept up regular attacks in Lebanon, usually saying it is targeting the Iran-backed group, which it accuses of violating the truce.
More than 370 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect, per an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.
Lebanon's government has committed to disarming Hezbollah, and the army in the coming months is set to do so in the area that includes Qannarit.
Israel, which has also kept troops in five south Lebanon border areas it deems "strategic", has called the army's efforts insufficient.
- 'No safety' -
While the war spared Fatima al-Nassar's home, the ceasefire did not.
The walls of the 52-year-old Palestinian housewife's home were blown off when a strike hit nearby, rendering it unlivable.
Her family garden, where they used to grow vegetables to sell at the local market, is now littered with rubble and cloaked in a blanket of grey dust.
"We've been here for 25 years... You work so hard -- for all your efforts to disappear in a second," she said, still in disbelief.
"There is no safety" in the south, she said.
Two Israeli strikes on Qannarit on January 21 destroyed 26 homes and damaged around 350 others, deputy mayor Ibrahim Hamdan told AFP.
The health ministry said 19 people were wounded.
Along with the fear of potential strikes, south Lebanon residents also have to contend with the frequent, nerve-wracking buzz of Israeli drones.
A video circulating on social media recently, purportedly from Kfar Kila near the border, showed a drone hovering over and following people as they visited their loved ones' graves.
This month in Qannarit, an Israeli drone hit a bulldozer that was working to clear the site of last month's strike, wounding one person and destroying the machine, which now lies among the rubble.
- 'Will they hit us?' -
Qannarit resident Ahmad al-Awdali, 49, was among those who lost his home. A red mattress now lies among the destruction of what used to be his son Ali's room.
"Our home wasn't hit during the war, it was hit now," he said.
If there were really a truce, he added, "this wouldn't have happened".
He and Ali were also nearby when the bulldozer was hit, leaving the 10-year-old traumatized.
"He doesn't sleep... During the night he suddenly wakes up scared," said Awdali, who is also a bus driver.
"Every time we go to a house he asks me, 'Will they hit us?'"
The conflict has damaged or destroyed swathes of the south, with many border towns in ruins and reconstruction yet to begin.
The Qannarit municipality said it was sheltering 55 families who have fled towns and villages near the frontier, seeking relative safety.
Ali Ghaddar, 56, has been trying to keep his hardware shop going after one of the Israeli strikes that hit Qannarit on January 21 shattered his glass storefront.
Many people lost their homes and "the area has been killed economically", said Ghaddar, surrounded by other shops also damaged by the raid, which levelled the building across the street.
A Hezbollah flag sticks out of the rubble at the stricken site.
In the face of the recent destruction, he said, the ceasefire seemed a distant notion.
"For those who say the war ended, I say no, it's still happening."
Source: Agence France Presse
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