Forced from their homes by Israeli bombing, displaced Lebanese face uncertainty and sectarian tensions

Fears of a long-term occupation of southern Lebanon have grown, with Israel moving to establish a buffer zone, leveling homes and destroying bridges over the Litani River.

ZOUK MOSBEH, Lebanon — Almost made homeless during Israeli bombing that badly damaged her home in Tyre, southern Lebanon, two years ago, Rose El Khoury salvaged what she could and rebuilt.

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Two years later, the home in Tyre that she shared with her husband and three children is a pile of rubble.

“In 2024, it was livable, even though we didn’t have the money to fix it,” El Khoury, a housewife in her 30s whose husband is serving with the Lebanese army, told NBC News in a telephone interview earlier this week. Today, she said, “my house is on the ground. So there is no hope to return.”