Published on 6/22/2026
|
Last update: 20:33 (Mecca time)
Al Jazeera’s camera monitored the gradual return of life to towns in southern Lebanon, as the displaced began to restore their property and remove traces of the Israeli war from them, in a scene in which signs of destruction are intertwined with the continuing details of the people’s daily lives.
In the town of Battle in the Tire district, Johnny Tanios, in a report he prepared for Al Jazeera, pointed to the steadfastness of the people who refused to leave throughout the phase of the Israeli escalation.
Pharmacist Ahmed continued his work despite Israeli threats to evacuate the town, and despite the destruction of his pharmacy, which had been in place for 27 years, and its new building as a result of the Israeli aggression, stressing his insistence on rebuilding it in a better way.
In the same way, a baker in the town preferred to remain steadfast and wait for customers to return despite the fires and scourges of war.
The decision to stay was not an easy choice for the people, as the Talib family paid a heavy price with the loss of 8 of its members in an Israeli raid that targeted the home of a family member less than a month ago. They were treacherously martyred while they were safe, including a young boy who was pulled out of the pool by young men while he was swimming safely.
On the other hand, the displaced people returning with their belongings carry stories of pain and painful memories, as citizen Fatima returned from the vicinity of the capital to her village to receive mourners for the loss of her only son, Muhammad, who declined to accompany the rest of the family on the displacement trip, to cry bitterly and wonder what he felt in his last moments.
The destroyed homes, tears, and confused faces in the towns of southern Lebanon summarize the course of 3 years of war confrontations and successive truces without radical solutions so far.
Between security fears and the desire to return home, the lives of residents seem to depend on the path of regional and international understandings and agreements and their repercussions, which keeps the anticipation going, waiting for what the current ceasefire may lead to.
The truce in Lebanon is part of the US-Iranian agreement that entered into force on June 18, 2026 after it was signed electronically by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and US President Donald Trump.
Since March 2, 2026, Israel has launched an aggression against Lebanon, resulting in the killing of 4,057 people and the injury of 12,121 others, in addition to the displacement of more than a million people, according to data from the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
