Lebanese Joy at Returning to Homes in the South Mixed With Horror at Ruins of War

Lebanese Return Home After Ceasefire, Facing Ruins Amid Hopes for Peace

Displacement, Destruction, and the Struggle for Normalcy

By Thomas Suen , Aziz Taher , Emilie Madi and Jihed Abidellaoui

Returning to a Changed Homeland

QASMIYEH, Lebanon, April 17 - Lebanese children leaned out of cars flashing victory signs on Friday as they bumped across a makeshift bridge erected overnight across the Litani River after a truce with Israel - but bombed-out ruins and hard times await. 

Nearly a quarter of Lebanese have been forced from their homes, both in the south and other Shi'ite Muslim-majority areas, ordered by Israel to leave as it levelled villages and city districts and sent in troops over six weeks of war. 

Israel says it has avoided targeting civilians in a military campaign it described as necessary to protect its own people from Lebanon's Iran-backed Shi'ite Hezbollah group. 

A 10-day ceasefire announced on Thursday is now bringing respite, allowing many of the displaced to return to what remains of their homes while they pray for a lasting truce. 

But tens of thousands will be unable to go back - their homes in ruins or lying in areas still held by Israel's military. 

Challenges of Rebuilding and Hopes for Peace

Lebanese Want Permanent End to Wars

The Halabi family's silver sedan was among the throng of vehicles crowding the coast road to head back over the Litani, where Israel destroyed the last bridge connecting the south with the rest of Lebanon on Thursday.

Workmen with bulldozers and diggers worked through the night under floodlights to build an earthen dyke in place of the bridge at Qasmiyeh, its twisted metal piled nearby.  

After 10 hours in the car - on a journey that usually takes one - the family passed huge piles of rubble as they drove slowly into Tyre, a major historic Lebanese city in the south, heading back to their home and relatives. 

"These are the first two children to arrive - my son's children," said Sobhi Halabi, 80, hugging his returning grandchildren as they arrived in his apartment, decorated with photographs of the family - and of Hezbollah leaders. 

But many were coming back to less joyful scenes. Rubble disfigures many streets where buildings were destroyed. Posters of local men killed fighting Israeli forces are pasted on walls. 

For many the starkest signs of war were visible at the beginning of their journey, passing through Beirut's southern suburbs.

Burnt-out or smashed cars littered the streets along with debris from targeted buildings. Some had their fronts shorn off by strikes, revealing individual rooms like giant doll houses.

Devastation in Nabatieh

Back in the southern town of Nabatieh, one of the worst-hit areas of Lebanon, Fadel Badreddine could barely believe the scale of destruction. As cars piled with mattresses and other belongings drove into the town, he said he and his wife and young son would not be able to live there for now. 

"We're taking our things and leaving again," he said. "May God grant us relief and end this whole thing permanently - not temporarily - so we can return to our homes."

More than 7,000 housing units have been destroyed or damaged in Nabatieh alone, Lebanese authorities say.

Displaced Families and Uncertain Futures

'My Home, My Birthplace'

Not every displaced family has tried to return. Kodor Mouzannar, 62, from the southern village of Souaneh, has been living during the war in a blue tarpaulin tent in Beirut's Camille Chamoun Stadium. 

"The village is my home, my birthplace, and it means so much to me. It's my childhood, my life, my grandparents, my relatives, and the people. I miss them all. We're all one community," he said.  

Lingering Fears and Hopes for Stability

But though he longs to go home, he has no trust that Israel will stick to the ceasefire and that the bombing will stop. After a truce in 2024, Israeli airstrikes continued in the south as it and Hezbollah accused each other of breaching the truce.

He also remembers the difficulty his family had in finding shelter in Beirut at the start of the war. They spent two nights sleeping in the car waiting for a place in a shelter and fear a similar experience if they return home to find it in ruins and have to turn back.  

"I hope that the (ceasefire) continues and that the situation calms down and people return to their homes. But on one condition that they return to their homes - without having, every day, someone going to work and getting killed," he said.

(Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Andrew Heavens)