On these ruins, a man salutes in front of the portrait of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed in a strike in the southern suburbs on Sept. 27, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/OLJ)
“They won’t talk…” warns Zeina*, who had to flee her home in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Opposed to Hezbollah, she sees her father, a Hezbollah supporter, now torn regarding the ‘front supporting Gaza,’ triggered by the party on Oct. 8, 2023. Three weeks ago, the war arrived at their doorstep. In her father’s eyes, the price has become too high to pay. The idea of losing the family home unsettles him. “When he talked about Gaza, he said ‘the poor ones’... Now he admits we can’t go on, but he asks me not to say these things publicly,” she explains.One year after the start of the war, the same distress has shifted from the south to Beirut. It’s the same mattresses laid directly on the floor in classrooms; the same belongings packed into small plastic bags; the same eyes glued to phone screens, scrutinizing every video posted on social...
“They won’t talk…” warns Zeina*, who had to flee her home in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Opposed to Hezbollah, she sees her father, a Hezbollah supporter, now torn regarding the ‘front supporting Gaza,’ triggered by the party on Oct. 8, 2023. Three weeks ago, the war arrived at their doorstep. In her father’s eyes, the price has become too high to pay. The idea of losing the family home unsettles him. “When he talked about Gaza, he said ‘the poor ones’... Now he admits we can’t go on, but he asks me not to say these things publicly,” she explains.One year after the start of the war, the same distress has shifted from the south to Beirut. It’s the same mattresses laid directly on the floor in classrooms; the same belongings packed into small plastic bags; the same eyes glued to phone screens, scrutinizing...