Since the start of the Israel-Hezbollah war, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have fled their homes because of the fighting. But the residents of one town right in the combat zone have decided to stay.
Rmeish, just 2km (1.2 miles) from the border, is home to 7,000 Maronite Christians – and surrounded by firing on all sides.
“There’s lots of damage. Maybe 90% of houses have damage of some kind, glass smashed and cracks in the walls. I don’t know what’s going to happen when winter comes,” says Jiries al-Alam, a farmer who also works as an undertaker with the town’s church.
“We are determined to stay but hardly anyone sleeps at night because of the air strikes. Thankfully, there’s been no deaths among the residents so far, but 200 of my cattle died from the military flares,” he added.
A day after Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on southern Israel from Gaza on 7 October 2023, its Lebanese ally Hezbollah began launching rockets into northern Israel, which in turn, started to strike Lebanon.
The residents of Rmeish began seeing rockets flying in both directions above them.
– BBC
