– Samar dies
In the early hours of dawn, the Lebanese, especially in the southern suburbs of Beirut, woke up to sudden Israeli raids, which came as a response to operations carried out by “Hezbollah” targeting Israeli sites, which opened a new chapter of escalation. A few minutes were enough to turn the suburb, along with the south and the Bekaa, into open displacement areas, where thousands of families had no choice but to flee the Israeli attacks, which this time came without warning.
This scene brought to mind the repeated cycles of escalation and displacement that the Lebanese have been experiencing for more than a year. As the displacement movement increased, the roads, especially the entrances to the capital, turned into long queues of cars stuck in suffocating traffic, coinciding with citizens rushing to gas stations for fear of gasoline shortages or the expansion of the scope of confrontations.
The roads were crowded with hastily loaded cars, parked on both sides of the road, while families spread out on the sidewalks, waiting for a safe destination. There was no time to think or plan, as the sound of successive explosions was faster than any preparation. While some families sought to reach the homes of relatives or friends, others went directly to public and private schools that were opened as emergency shelters.
During a field tour by Ali to a number of schools in the Zoqaq El Balat area that had been turned into shelter centres, the same scene that the Lebanese had known since the October 2024 war was repeated. Classrooms were turned into places to stay overnight, and school bags were no longer visible, but rather bags of clothes and light blankets. Entire families share a narrow space, while children try to play in schoolyards to the sounds of drones that have been flying over their heads since the morning hours.
At the entrances to schools, security personnel wearing yellow vests stood to regulate the entry of parents. When the schools fill up, they are forced to apologize to the newly arrived families, who stand at the doors begging to enter in the hope of finding temporary shelter to protect them from spending another night in the open.
Live testimonies monitored by “Lebanon Debate” summarize the extent of the suffering. A woman who was displaced from the Al-Salem neighborhood says: “We arrived at the school here in Alamoto, (the old abandoned Lycee Abdelkader school in the Mar Elias area), at five in the morning. We were still standing on our feet because of the dust, as there was no room for us to sit.” In the corner of the same classroom, another woman was sweeping the floor in preparation for turning it into a temporary home for her family of five, after the open schools in the area were full.
On the other hand, Zoqaq El Balat schools were filled with displaced families. Some of the displaced complained of a shortage of everything: mattresses, blankets, food, especially for children, and even water. Some of them were forced to order blankets and pillows through the “delivery” service, while others returned to their homes on motorcycles to bring the necessary necessities of light weight, while others spread out in nearby pharmacies and supermarkets to buy the milk, medicines, and foodstuffs they needed.
The residents complained in an interview with that they went out “with only the clothes they were wearing.” Many arrived in their pajamas, and children without spare clothes or warm clothes, while the weather is still cold, especially during the night. Until now, blankets and basic supplies such as mattresses, covers, and foodstuffs have not been provided sufficiently, which increases the daily suffering that goes beyond the fear of bombing to anxiety over the most basic necessities of livelihood.
What increases concern this year is that the Israeli attacks coincided with the month of fasting, which reduces people’s stamina. One mother said as she tried to wrap her child in a light coat: “We didn’t take anything with us… but we went out running.” A phrase that summarizes the situation of thousands of families who once again found themselves in the cycle of displacement, as if time in Lebanon repeats itself without stopping, and fear is always the master of the situation.
