Dahiyeh families displaced by war now trapped by identity | Israel attacks Lebanon

Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon – Fatima Kandeel, 43, and her two sons moved into a brand new rented residence within the southern suburbs of Beirut in March.

They’d been staying along with her sister Aida close by for 4 months after a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon had stopped the worst, however not all, of Israel’s assaults on Lebanon, and it felt good to have their very own place.

Of their barely furnished front room in Laylake, Dahiyeh, with solely two armchairs and a shisha pipe between them, the partitions clarify the place the household stands.

A framed picture of slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah hangs beside a martyr’s portrait of Fatima’s 21-year-old nephew, a Hezbollah fighter killed in an Israeli air strike in Jnoub in October.

Within the rubble, scraps of house

When the warfare in Gaza started on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah declared its help for Palestine and escalated tensions alongside the Israel-Lebanon border for a few 12 months till Israel invaded and launched full-scale warfare.

The suburbs of Dahiyeh have been repeatedly focused in Israeli strikes as it’s extensively recognised as a Hezbollah stronghold.

The household’s earlier house in Dahiyeh’s Hay el-Selom, a 10-minute stroll from Laylake, was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in October.

But Fatima was heat and hopeful in early June, her hazel eyes nonetheless smiling from beneath her hijab whereas recounting the ache of loss, displacement and hardship.

Energetic and assured, she spoke expressively, utilizing her fingers as if she had been on stage.

Like many Lebanese hosts, she supplied drinks and an invite for lunch whereas chatting about what it was wish to really feel beneath assault in Dahiyeh and whether or not that modified her relationship along with her neighbourhood.

After her household’s house was destroyed they usually fled to Aida’s, Fatima stated, her sons, 24-year-old Hassan and 20-year-old Hussein, managed to salvage two wardrobes and a mattress from the rubble together with different scraps from their lives there.

Happy with that small victory, Fatima flung open the bed room doorways to indicate off the 2 wardrobes restored to the purpose the place it might be arduous to guess that they had been in a bombing. The rescued mattress is utilized by one in every of her sons after getting new slats and a brand new lease on life.

“These are an important items of furnishings in the home,” she stated, gently operating her hand over one of many broken surfaces.

“They’re historic [because they survived]. I used to be so blissful we bought them again.”

Hassan and Hussein discovered extra within the rubble of their house: a stuffed toy that Hassan used to play with and some of the books from their mom’s library.

As she spoke, Fatima held the stuffed toy in her fingers, smiling and taking a look at it. Hussein was quietly observing his mom as she shared her ideas.

“He used to sleep with it beside him each evening,” Fatima recalled. “I couldn’t save a lot from their childhood after my divorce, however I stored this, and now it survived the warfare too.”

In her bed room, a small desk holds a stack of books about historical past, faith and tradition – a fraction of what she as soon as owned.

Scars, seen and invisible

From the lounge balcony, the scars of warfare are seen. The highest flooring of a neighbouring constructing have been destroyed, the decrease flooring nonetheless standing – a day by day reminder of what was misplaced.

But Fatima holds Dahiyeh expensive and is set to remain.

“I like the individuals right here,” she stated. “Everyone seems to be sort. … Dahiyeh is house.”

Hussein agreed that he feels most at house in Dahiyeh with its robust sense of neighborhood and associates and neighbours throughout.

In the course of the warfare, he struggled emotionally, continuously burdened and moving into fights. He has seen two therapists however hasn’t felt a lot enchancment.

In contrast to his mom, Hussein is open to the concept of leaving Dahiyeh, however he identified practicalities – rents and the general price of dwelling outdoors Dahiyeh are a lot greater if they may discover a place to lease.

And, he stated, they may face sectarian discrimination in the event that they relocate.

The household needed to go away Dahiyeh briefly throughout Israel’s warfare on Lebanon and sought shelter within the close by coastal Beirut suburb of Jnah. Fatima nonetheless carries a painful reminiscence from that point.

A Jnah grocery retailer proprietor snidely remarked: “Take a look at these trashy Shia individuals,” as he checked out newly arrived households dressed within the slippers and pyjamas they fled in.

The remark left a scar, and he or she refuses to go away Dahiyeh once more.

“If warfare comes once more, what do you educate the subsequent era?” she requested. “That it’s OK to surrender your own home? Or that you simply stand your floor?”

‘If it had been simply me, I’d keep’

Whereas Fatima has chosen to remain in Dahiyeh, her 55-year-old sister, Iman, needs to go away.

Iman lives along with her husband, Ali, a plastering foreman, and their 4 youngsters: Hassan, 25, a programmer; Fatima, 19, a college pupil; and 16-year-old twins Mariam and Marwa, each at school.

All the kids nonetheless share a single bed room of their modest however gentle and joyful house.

The lounge was stuffed with laughter as Iman sat with Mariam and Hassan, passing round chocolate and juice whereas cousins chatted within the background.

There was teasing as they shared reminiscences of worry, displacement and resilience.

Dahiyeh has by no means been totally secure. Its historical past has been formed by the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil Conflict and Israeli assaults, together with the devastating 2006 warfare.

It’s a cycle, Iman stated – one other warfare, one other wave of worry and displacement. Throughout Israel’s most up-to-date warfare on Lebanon, the household fled a number of occasions.

They first went to Kayfoun village within the Mount Lebanon governorate in late September, however tensions there have been excessive, and an area man unfold rumours of imminent Israeli strikes, making an attempt to scare displaced households away.

They left Kayfoun after every week and fled to Tripoli within the north, the place life was quieter and the presence of close by family members supplied some consolation, however distrust lingered.

Iman was usually judged by her hijab, which marked her as “resistance-aligned” to individuals who blamed Hezbollah for Israel’s assaults on Lebanon.

“All of us grew to become introverts,” Hassan recalled. “We stayed house more often than not, however we had family members close by and met some good associates. We’d sit collectively, play playing cards. It helped.”

In early October, they adopted associates to Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, the place they had been welcomed warmly – extra warmly, they stated, than in components of Lebanon.

After the ceasefire, they returned. “There’s no place higher than our nation,” Iman insisted, however Dahiyeh doesn’t really feel secure to her any extra regardless of her deep ties to the neighbourhood, so she is trying to find a brand new house – anyplace that’s safer.

“If it had been simply me, I’d keep,” she stated. “However I’ve youngsters. I’ve to guard them.”

‘They don’t lease to Shia households’

Iman’s son Hassan recollects the primary time Israel bombed close to their residence – on April 1 in breach of the November ceasefire.

“I simply needed out,” he stated. “I don’t care the place we go. Simply someplace that isn’t a goal.”

However discovering a brand new place to lease is way from easy.

They thought-about shifting to Hazmieh. It’s near Dahiyeh however not a part of it, making it comparatively safer. And it might be nearer to Iman’s sister Mariam, who lives there.

However Iman stated: “In Hazmieh, most of them don’t lease to Shia households, or they might double the value.”

Regardless of the mounting worry, the household doesn’t wish to go away Lebanon, and Hassan has turned down a job supply overseas. They’re exhausted, they stated, however not able to abandon their nation.

Even within the midst of warfare, Hassan stated, his dad and mom didn’t wish to go away Dahiyeh. He needed to work on convincing them to go first to Kayfoun, then ultimately Iraq.

It was the identical after the ceasefire with lengthy discussions about whether or not to go away, and it was his mom’s worry for her youngsters that made her ultimately agree.

However greater than a month after they spoke to Al Jazeera in early June, they’re nonetheless trying to find a spot that may take them and that they’ll afford.