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Since October 17, Mirna, 45, has been away from her village of Rmeish in southern Lebanon which has been the site of frequent tensions between Hezbollah and Israel. “We’re tired, really we’re tired. We could hardly wait for the July War to end. We can’t stand this anymore,” she says on a call with Medfeminiswiya after moving to Ehden, a remote village in northern Lebanon.
Mirna’s husband stayed in Rmeish in their family home. “We can’t leave the house,” the mother of three explains. “There are no schools, no life. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Work has stopped, and we’re just sitting around waiting to see what’s going to happen to us, and we don’t even have anything to do with this entire story.”
About 29,000 people have been internally displaced from southern Lebanon and elsewhere in the country since early October as violence escalates on the Lebanese border following the outbreak of the war on Gaza, according to the latest figures published by the United Nations International Organization for Migration. This number is likely to rise as the battles at the border, and in Gaza, continue to intensify.
And just as women and children in Gaza are paying the highest price in the ongoing war, this reality also applies to Lebanon in light of the lack of adequate and equipped shelters to host the increasing numbers of displaced people. Added to this are the already-existing difficulties imposed by the dire economic crisis that began in late 2019, which has increased the suffering of vulnerable groups, especially women, children, and marginalized communities, as not everyone has the luxury of being able to rent a house in a safer area.
“My eldest son has been suffering from panic attacks since his father died. He had started getting better recently, but then his condition worsened when things got tense again. He doesn’t talk about anything other than death now.”
Zainab, a resident of the border village of Maroun al-Ras, lost her husband a few years ago, and today she is alone with her five children facing a new round of battles near her home. “At first, I considered going to my family’s house in the Beqaa, but I changed my mind. It’s not easy, bringing five kids to a family home. I tried to hold out and stay at home in the South, but it was unbearable. My kids were living in terror because of the bombings and raids that ended up taking on a daily frequency in the area. So I had to go to my parents’ house because I don’t have any other shelter or place to go to,” she tells Medfeminiswiya. “But of course I know I’m still better off than other families who may not have any other place to take shelter in, no safer area to take their children to,” she adds, continuing, “My eldest son has been suffering from panic attacks since his father’s death. He had started getting better recently, but then his condition worsened when things got tense again. He doesn’t talk about anything other than death now.”
In the absence of sufficient shelters and assistance and considering the large numbers of displaced people, schools in the city of Sour have been turned into shelters and have become a refuge for thousands of people fleeing border villages that are no longer safe. But these shelters are not enough, especially if the conflict develops. In parallel, the school year is still indefinitely suspended in the South, and these schools that have been turned into shelters are not actually equipped to receive such numbers of displaced people and offer them food, drink, and sleeping areas, to mention a few of their needs.
“There are no schools, no life. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Work has stopped, and we’re just sitting around waiting to see what’s going to happen to us.”
In this context, Secretary General of the Higher Relief Commission Major General Mohammed Khair stated in a press interview, “We are working like a colony of bees to prepare for any war that may break out in Lebanon during the ongoing war in Palestine.” Khair continued to explain that “we are working around the clock to coordinate with the Council for the South to support shelter centers for displaced people in the border areas, and we aim to offer assistance to all centers.”
However, the reality described by the displaced individuals contradicts this statement and reflects the weakness of relief mechanisms, hinting at a possibly disastrous situation if the clashes on the southern border develop into a wider war. Hospitals, for example, have announced that they would not be able to last longer than 72 hours in the case of war, and there are not enough schools in Sour to shelter everyone, especially now that winter and the beginning of the cold season are near.
