Christmas in south Lebanon: Ain Ibl enjoys an enchanted interlude. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
AIN IBL, Nabatieh — In the schoolyard of Collège Saint-Joseph des Soeurs des Saints-Coeurs in Ain Ibl, a flock of soldiers in blue berets garnish stacks of pancakes with chocolate. Showers of rain mingle with the dense fog covering the village. UNIFIL’s French-led Force Commander’s Reserve (FCR) cordoned off the school, and was patrolling a two-kilometer radius around it: it was like an informal ceasefire in the unnamed war.
To make sure that everything would run smoothly, liaison officers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) maintained contact with belligerents. “Not with Hezbollah directly,” said a French soldier, “because we can only talk to state armies.”
UNIFIL's deployment in the area is the most significant since the 2006 war and is reinforced by Irish, Polish and Italian soldiers. The hope is that their presence dissuades fighters from firing rockets from the area, which could subsequently provoke Israeli retaliation.
Sister Maya Beaino welcoming Colonel Leroy, commander of the UNIFIL, on Dec. 23, 2023 upon his arrival at the college for the Christmas celebrations. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Since Oct. 8, Lebanon’s border villages have been subjected to daily bombardments. To get to Ain Ibl, where school has been closed since the start of hostilities, one must take winding roads and go around a string of deserted Shiite villages. Only 30 percent of the inhabitants of this Maronite town are still there, and there was no sign on the streets or through the windows of houses indicating that Christmas was around the corner.
But on Dec. 23 at least, there was a sort of ephemeral “peace dome” encasing this village on Lebanon’s side of the border. “The deployment of blue helmets provides a security varnish, so that hostilities come to a halt, [albeit] only for a few hours,” said FCR head Colonel Leroy.
On Nov. 5, Remas (14) Taleen (12), and Layan Chour (10), and their grandmother, were killed in an Israeli drone strike that targeted their vehicle. The sisters had attended the private school in the village.
“They [the girls] are the angels of this school,” whose windows were blown out two weeks after the murder of the kids. “One must make actions of life where there is death,” said Sister Maya Beaino, the school's headmistress, quoting Pope Francis.
A brass band playing music for the children of the Saint-Joseph college of the Sisters of the Holy Hearts of Ain Ibl, on Dec. 23, 2023 in south Lebanon as Christmas approaches. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Despite the tragedy and the ongoing conflict, Beaino worked hard for weeks to organize a Christmas party for the students, and she did not have the heart to claim the due school fees from the over 500 families (most of which are farmers who lost their crops) with children enrolled. The school has gone into debt to pay the salaries of its 70 teachers for December and doesn't know how it will pay them in the coming months.
With a heart full of faith, strong-willed Beaino defied odds and convinced UNIFIL’s French contingent to support her in running the Christmas event, which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible. The soldiers watched in amusement as Beaino scrambled about. She rushed down the stairs, ran to the auditorium, called on the missionaries, instructed the sound technician and summoned Georges, a final-year student who was acting as Santa for the occasion, despite being far too young and frail for the roll.
Fields of tobacco and olive trees
Aafter 10 a.m., families poured into the hall where the little choristers of Mrs Rebecca, who came from the village of Rmaish a little further south, waited. Rebecca did not think the party would take place, and didn’t want to get hopes up. “There was a real fear among the families, over the risk of traveling from one village to another,” she said. Escorted by the Lebanese Army, buses were requisitioned to transport families to the gathering safely.
Father Fadi cut through the crowd and led 54 children from the Mar Geryes parish, who arrived from Debl. More than 60 percent of Debl’s inhabitants make their livelihoods from the tabbaco and olive harvests, and have remained in the village despite the bombardment.
A brass band playing music for the children of the Saint-Joseph college of the Sisters of the Holy Hearts of Ain Ibl, on Dec. 23, 2023 in south Lebanon as Christmas approaches. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
French soldiers from UNIFIL distribute gifts to children at the Saint-Joseph des Soeurs des Saints-Coeurs college in Ain Ibl, Dec. 23, 2023. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Every evening after mass, Father Fadi passes through the streets of Debl playing Christmas songs over a loudspeaker at full blast, “to get the children out of this deadly atmosphere.”
Siham Atmeh from Ain Ibl, attended the Christmas gathering with her husband and their three children. After spending several weeks in Beirut, the family decided to return to the village despite the worsening situation. “My little ones can tell the difference between drones from airplanes, or know if a bomb fell nearby,” said Atmeh, who was a teenager during the 2006 war.
The ceremony commenced with officials’ speeches, choral hymns, prayers and a video about the birth of Christ.
In the hall, La Vida Fiesta, an entertainment troupe made up of musicians and actors dressed as nutcracker soldiers for the day, worried about a delay in scheduling. They had to get to the Phoenicia hotel in Beirut, and had another performance in Bikfaya that same day.
“How was the drive? No potholes, no rockets?” one young teenager asked the entertainers jokingly.
After the delay, the troupe entered the hall to the sound of drums and performed to dozens of amazed attendants, as French UNIFIL soldiers played along.
“I contacted more than 20 troupes between Saida and Sour, who asked for 10 times the price. They [La Vida Fiesta] traveled five hours from Batroun, yes, from Batroun children, and they didn’t even ask me a question about the danger,” said Sister Maya to the audience, as she called for a round of applause.
The distribution of gifts, donated by the French Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC), soon followed. The 200 or so children in attendance, who until then had been patient, rushed to the stage to claim their gifts from Captain Estelle, who was clearly moved. Siblings Charbel (10), Maroun (9), and Cosette (4) walked away squeezing their gifts tight in their arms.
“They were so excited. It’s a change from their everyday lives,” said their mother Madonna Hanna, who brought her kids to the event from Rmaish. They pray every evening for the return of their father, Tanios, who works with Lebanese General Security near the border.
“It’s a beautiful message of hope for all these communities that are suffering. It would have been easier not to do anything, to stay home and carry on with our little patrol non-stop,” said Colonel Leroy, who left with an icon of Saint Charbel, a gift from Sister Maya.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour. Translation by Joelle El Khoury.