The Afqa cave. Illustration photo Philippe Hage Boutros/L'OLJ
Clashes, the images of which circulated on social media, broke out Thursday in Afqa, a village in the Jbeil mountains, between displaced people fleeing the ongoing Israeli offensive and the Internal Security Forces (ISF), over illegal constructions or disputed lands, according to former Jbeil MP Fares Souhaid, who spoke to L’Orient-Le Jour.
A government source, also contacted, explained without going into details that the ISF demolished "some encroachments" on private land, referring to constructions undertaken by individuals on plots they did not own.
Even before the war between Israel and Hezbollah began in October 2023, the Jbeil mountains, home to both Shiite and Christian majority villages, had often been a hotspot for intercommunal tensions over territorial disputes.
Since the intensification of the Israeli offensive on Sept. 23 and the resulting mass displacement of populations, "between 20,000 and 25,000" displaced people originally from the region, who had previously lived in the southern suburbs of Beirut, heavily shelled by the Israeli army, have returned to their ancestral villages, according to Souhaid.
"Displaced people are now trying to build either on disputed lands or on their own lands but without any building permits," continued the former MP, a fierce opponent of Hezbollah. He said it was essential to alert the authorities to these alleged abuses. However, this stance appears poorly received by the displaced.
Toward a settlement
A Shiite resident told L’Orient-Le Jour that the confrontation with the police stemmed from displaced individuals from the Laylaki neighborhood (in the southern suburbs of Beirut) trying to settle on land belonging to other villagers, "The owners of these plots appealed to the state to reclaim their lands. The authorities gave the newcomers a 15-day deadline to vacate the premises. When this period expired, the ISF arrived in Afqa to enforce the order."
The president of the village council, Abbas Ali Zeaiter, offered a different version. While acknowledging that his village had welcomed a large number of displaced people from the southern suburbs, including "2,400 people" who are not originally from the village, he stated that "the disputed constructions total four and were built by people from the Zeaiter family, originally from the village, on land they own," while admitting that these constructions were hastily erected without the necessary permits.
In response to Souhaid's accusations about disputed lands, Zeaiter referred to an old, unresolved cadastral ambiguity: "These lands do indeed belong individually to members of the Zeaiter family, but cadastically, they fall within the Christian village of Ghabate."
He added that "the case is before the courts and is likely heading toward a settlement." He noted that he had agreed with Souhaid to wait for the judge's ruling but did not hide his anger toward the political authorities: "Since Sept. 23, no one has provided these displaced people with even a mattress. But now they come to demolish homes."
Risks of future unrest?
Beyond this isolated clash, Souhaid fears that some displaced people may be tempted to "occupy" uninhabited homes in the villages of the Jbeil mountains once the cold forces them to seek shelter at all costs. "We have contacted the authorities in the region to warn them of the risk, and we have reached a modus vivendi in which if the laws are not enforced, we will refuse the occupation of private properties, which are protected by law," explained Souhaid. He also claimed to have alerted the army, the Interior Ministry and all relevant authorities.
However, Zeaiter downplayed such concerns: "All the displaced in the Jbeil region have rented properties for shelter. They will return home as soon as the conflict ends. There is no danger of illegal occupation of properties. Neither our religion nor our political parties teach us such behavior, and coexistence has always been a hallmark of life in Jbeil."
