JDEIDAT MARJAYOUN, Lebanon — Standing on a friend’s balcony, Milia el-Cheikh strained to make out what remained of her home village among the rubble below — its entrances now sealed off with coils of barbed wire.
Her village, Dibbine, is among several communities in southern Lebanon with Shiite majorities that have been destroyed by Israeli forces engaged in combat against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Israel has taken control of large swaths of territory, and fighting has continued even through declared ceasefires. The most recent truce — established as part of an interim peace agreement between the United States and Iran — appears to be holding for now.
El-Cheikh, one of the few Christians who called Dibbine home, found temporary shelter in a nearby village. She regularly makes her way to Jdeidat Marjayoun — a predominantly Christian village adjacent to her hometown — to share coffee with a church friend. What was once a comforting routine now unfolds against a landscape of destruction and dread.
“I don’t know anything about my house,” she said. “Nothing is more agonizing than not being able to get to your home.”
Jdeidat Marjayoun is one of several towns and villages that the Associated Press visited along the uncertain boundary of Israel’s occupied zone in southern Lebanon. Israeli forces have pushed out the largely Shiite population from many areas, believing those communities shelter Hezbollah fighters, and numerous towns have been leveled.
Residents of neighboring Christian, Sunni, and Druze communities have been permitted to remain, but the conflict has upended their lives. Their homes have been struck, road closures have cut them off from the rest of Lebanon, and Israeli military raids in the night have left residents shaken.
Israeli warnings against sheltering Hezbollah fighters have effectively prevented these communities from taking in displaced Shiite neighbors, creating a rift between people who have lived side by side for generations and inflaming political and sectarian tensions.
The current round of fighting began when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in the days following an Israeli and U.S. military campaign against Iran that started on February 28. Israel subsequently invaded Lebanon and has extended its zone of control as deep as 12 kilometers — roughly 7 miles — in some areas.
As Israeli forces moved forward, they warned civilians to evacuate large portions of southern Lebanon. In April, Israel released a list of 53 towns and villages — the majority of them Shiite — where residents are prohibited from returning. On Thursday, eight additional predominantly Shiite villages were added to that list.
Israel maintains that its troops are stationed in southern Lebanon for defensive purposes, asserting that Hezbollah was deeply embedded in the region. The military has released videos it says show tunnels and military infrastructure hidden within civilian neighborhoods.
Iran has stated that any broader ceasefire agreement must include Lebanon and that Israel must pull back its forces. Hezbollah has declared it will resist the occupation, and Lebanon’s government has also demanded an Israeli withdrawal.
Mixed communities perched on hills and nestled in valleys among orchards and olive groves sit within view of the devastation that has befallen their neighbors. Residents there have pledged to stay put.
The Shiite town of Khiam — now a flattened white expanse of destroyed buildings under Israeli control — is visible from the Christian village of Qlayaa.
Qlayaa’s residents are essentially cut off from their olive groves in the valley below. “Now another season is lost,” said Hanna Daher, the mayor of Qlayaa.
A priest in Qlayaa was killed by shelling while he was inspecting the site of an earlier strike. A father and his two children were killed in a drone attack while driving toward the village. Israel says it targets only militants.
In Jdeidat Marjayoun, a house was bombed on the suspicion that militants were using it. Rockets — believed to have been fired by Hezbollah — damaged the dome of a church. In other locations, solar panels, electrical transmitters, and water facilities have been struck.
El-Cheikh fled Dibbine with her neighbors in early March after Israel issued warnings to evacuate. In late May, after weeks of sustained fighting, Israeli forces raided Dibbine before pulling out in early June.
While the fighting raged, el-Cheikh’s friend Lolitta Costantine sheltered with her husband in their home in Jdeidat Marjayoun, at one point moving in with neighbors. The walls of her home now bear cracks from nearby explosions. Windows were blown out and doors knocked off their frames. She has kept a piece of shrapnel as a reminder of what she endured.
“We didn’t know where the danger was coming from,” Costantine said.
Shiites seeking refuge from the fighting have been turned away by residents who fear Israeli airstrikes or forced evacuation, worsening tensions that had largely been dormant since Lebanon’s civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 1990.
When one Qlayaa resident allowed a friend from a Shiite village to stay on his orchard property, his house was bombed, according to Mayor Daher. Other residents have asked Shiites seeking safety to move on.
“We told them, we don’t want problems for you or for us,” Daher said.
Israel has warned the municipality of Jdeidat Marjayoun not to allow displaced people from neighboring villages to enter, saying doing so could endanger the town or lead to a forced evacuation, according to a post from the municipality on social media.
“We were forced to ask some to leave the town,” said the parish priest, Father Philip Habib Okla. “It caused many disagreements and tension. We are counting on faith to remain united.”
The Israeli military said it has cautioned people in parts of southern Lebanon not to allow Hezbollah to operate within their villages, saying the militant group uses civilian areas as cover, putting residents in danger.
During Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000, the area was a stronghold for the South Lebanon Army, a mostly Christian militia that cooperated with Israeli forces. When Israel withdrew, some militia members fled to Israel while others faced prosecution in Lebanon, where they were broadly regarded as collaborators.
Some current residents worry they will be unfairly labeled as collaborators simply for remaining in their homes. Few are willing to speak openly about the tensions, afraid of retaliation from either Israel or Hezbollah.
At a church visited by the AP, a man cried out in frustration that suspicion had spread throughout the community — even among Christians themselves. He placed blame on Hezbollah for drawing Lebanon into the conflict, saying the group had made a grave error.
Late one night in March, Israeli forces surrounded a building in the predominantly Sunni village of Halta. They broke in and arrested a man named Chadi Abdel-Al, who cried out “my heart” as he was beaten and dragged into a vehicle, according to his mother, Ayesha al-Qaderi, who lives in the same building.
In the chaos, a 15-year-old relative named Mohammad Abdel-Al ran through the darkness in his pajamas toward the house, according to his grandfather, Hatem. Israeli soldiers shot and killed him. A neighbor who had stepped out onto his balcony was wounded in the incident.
The Israeli military said it had detained the leader of a local militant organization.
In a separate incident, Israeli soldiers detained three farmers from Halta during a raid on a nearby village.
They are among at least eight people detained by Israeli troops since March, according to Lebanese media reports. The Israeli military has said those detained were suspected of involvement in militant activities and in plots targeting its forces.
“We still don’t know why they kidnapped them. Maybe to instill fear in the village and to send a message that they see everyone,” said Issa Abdel-Al, the community’s leader. “It has become like the West Bank here,” he added, drawing a comparison to the occupied Palestinian territory.
Al-Qaderi, who has received no information about her son since he was taken away, said simply: “I just want to know his fate.”
