Kfar Kila (Lebanon) (AFP) – In the small falafel restaurant he owns in southern Lebanon, Hussein Mortada prepares sandwiches for the few customers as an Israeli reconnaissance drone flies over the almost deserted border town of Kfar Kila.
Published on: 12/22/2023 – 07:56
5 minutes
Hussein Mortada, 60 years old, whose hair and beard turned gray, said as he boiled oil before dropping falafel seeds inside his small restaurant, “A few days ago, the shell fell about 200 meters from here. A fragment of shrapnel reached the front of the store and here in the wall, and I hid behind the refrigerator.” .
The sound of bombing is clearly heard in the town, which is located in an area surrounded by olive fields. Most of the streets are deserted, and some of the neighborhoods facing the Galilee resemble a ghost town after its residents fled.
But Hussein Mortada is determined to stay in his town and continue to open his restaurant in front of the few cars that pass by, including ambulances.
He confirmed to Agence France-Presse, “Here we are under bombardment, working and we will not close. We feed every hungry person, those who have money and those who do not. This is also jihad for the sake of God.”
The border region in southern Lebanon has witnessed a worsening military escalation between Israel and Hezbollah since the Palestinian Hamas movement launched an unprecedented surprise attack inside Israel on October 7, which responded with devastating bombing and a ground operation in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah, which does not have any visible military presence in the Lebanese border area, mainly carries out daily operations against Israeli military targets near the border, placing this within the framework of supporting the Gaza Strip and “in support of its resistance.”
Israel responds by bombing border areas, targeting what it describes as the movements of Hezbollah fighters and its facilities near the border. The intensity of the bombing has increased recently, resulting in major destruction in some neighborhoods of the southern border villages.
The escalation in southern Lebanon resulted in the killing of at least 140 people in Lebanon, including about 100 Hezbollah fighters and at least 17 civilians, including three journalists.
11 people were killed on the Israeli side, including six soldiers.
According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 64,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon, most of them in the south.
In a report published on Tuesday, the United Nations Development Program said that the conflict led to “major material losses,” especially affecting housing, shops, infrastructure, and services in border villages.
The report added that “economic activity and local businesses were either disrupted or were forced to close their doors or move elsewhere.”
“We will remain in our land”
At the gas station he owns at the entrance to the border town of Taybeh in southern Lebanon, which was hit by Israeli bombing and whose mayor was killed by a shell on December 11, Ali Mansour also waits for the few customers who brave the daily bombing and leave their homes.
Smoke rises in the sky of the Lebanese town of Kafr Kila on the border with Israel on December 21, 2023 © – / AFP
However, he asserts, “As long as the bombing is far away, we will work to earn our living.”
“A small number of residents have left the village, but we are still here, because, as they say, things are under control,” this fifty-year-old man says in front of the gas station that is his only source of livelihood.
While standing opposite the Israeli town of Misgav Am on the other side of the border, he added, while the sound of a drone flying in the air was clearly heard, “We are facing Misgav Am. If we were afraid, we would not have stayed here. But what worries us is when the Israelis start dropping phosphorus bombs.”
The Lebanese authorities and international human rights organizations accuse the Israeli forces of using phosphorus bombs during their bombing of the Lebanese border areas.
But Mansour insists, “We are staying in our land. Certainly, the population now is smaller, but whoever has a livelihood will continue to make it.”
In the neighboring town of Al-Adisa, the small restaurant where Ahmed Turab (23 years old) works remained open serving hamburgers to residents until last week.
He told Agence France-Presse, “Since the beginning of the war until now, we have not left,” but last week, “like every day, we opened the restaurant, and Hussein, the young man who helps me at work, came, and we heard a very strong blow.”
He explains that the first shell landed in front of the restaurant, and two behind the restaurant, and Hussein was injured by shrapnel in his leg.
Ahmed Turab had no choice but to leave his village, which was now almost deserted.
For his part, Abbas Ali Baalbaki remained in his town, but he was forced to close the small printing press he owned.
In the main Al-Adisa square opposite Al-Husseiniyah, he says while watching news of the bombing targeting the border villages on his mobile phone, “If the war extended for ten months or a year, I would not leave.”
© 2023 AFP
2023-12-22 06:56:09
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