Aida Tohme Mhanna, mother of Mortada Mhanna, a Lebanese mucipality policeman abducted by the Israeli army in February 2025, shows a photo of her son on her mobile phone in Bint Jbeil, Nov. 3, 2025. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L’Orient Today)
“His heart knew,” Aida said quietly, describing her last moments with her son as she stood in front of his house on the outskirts of Bint Jbeil. “It was as if he felt something would happen.” On the night of Feb. 15, 2025, Mortada Mhanna sat with his family at his sister’s home in the Sour district, talking about the work he had been doing to repair his house, damaged during the latest war between Hezbollah and Israel. The last thing his mother remembers him saying was half a joke, “The compressor [construction machine] was so loud that if Israeli soldiers came, he would not feel or hear them.”The next morning, the Mhanna family each returned to inspect their respective homes. On a steep hill where his house stood within view of the border village of Maroun al-Ras, Mortada was doing what he had done for four days in a row: fixing what...
“His heart knew,” Aida said quietly, describing her last moments with her son as she stood in front of his house on the outskirts of Bint Jbeil. “It was as if he felt something would happen.” On the night of Feb. 15, 2025, Mortada Mhanna sat with his family at his sister’s home in the Sour district, talking about the work he had been doing to repair his house, damaged during the latest war between Hezbollah and Israel. The last thing his mother remembers him saying was half a joke, “The compressor [construction machine] was so loud that if Israeli soldiers came, he would not feel or hear them.”The next morning, the Mhanna family each returned to inspect their respective homes. On a steep hill where his house stood within view of the border village of Maroun al-Ras, Mortada was doing what he had done for four days in a row:...
