Lebanese civilians return home to shattered lives and cities after ceasefire

The crushing reality of homes and businesses reduced to crumbled cement and mangled steel has curdled the joy many in Lebanon felt after Israel and Hezbollah agreed a ceasefire earlier this week.

ZOUK MOSBEH, Lebanon — The crushing reality of homes and businesses reduced to crumbled cement and mangled steel has curdled the joy many in Lebanon felt after Israel and Hezbollah agreed a ceasefire earlier this week.

“I have no house. Now we’re looking in the village to rent one apartment,” Ali Eid, 56, told NBC News in a telephone interview Friday after returning to his hometown of Maarakah in southern Lebanon’s Tyre district.

“We, as many other people, are extremely happy to come back, but at the same time, I look at the people who lost their houses and their loved ones, it’s devastating,” added the high school teacher.

Eid was one of almost 1.2 million people displaced inside Lebanon as Israel and the Hezbollah militant group traded fire during almost 14 months of conflict that began the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in which about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

Thousands of people displaced to northern Lebanon by the fighting have started to make their way back south as the fragile ceasefire negotiated by the United States continues to hold, despite Israel urging them to stay put. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/lebanese-civilians-return-home-ceasefire-rcna182272

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