Nearly eight weeks have passed, yet Rabih Khreiss struggles to accept his drastically changed circumstances.
The 45-year-old mechanic once supported his nine children through his automotive repair business in southern Lebanon, but now finds himself barely getting by while living in a makeshift tent in Lebanon’s capital city.
The Khreiss family joined countless others who evacuated their home community of Khiyam during the early morning hours of March 2nd, after receiving word that Hezbollah militants had launched attacks against Israel, marking the beginning of renewed warfare.
As a seasoned resident, Khreiss quickly realized that Israeli forces would likely respond with airstrikes against southern Lebanese communities and immediately moved his family to safety, taking only what they wore.
His prediction proved accurate as bombing commenced almost immediately. However, Khreiss never anticipated that nearly eight weeks later, his family would remain on Beirut’s streets as fighting continues, surviving solely through charitable assistance.
“I feel like my children and I are prisoners in a room, sentenced to life imprisonment. But when will relief come so we can get out of this life sentence? No one knows,” said Khreiss.
Each morning, the family awakens inside shelters constructed from wooden supports and plastic sheeting that shake ominously during strong winds. Without access to proper bathing facilities, they wash using plastic containers and clean their clothing by hand.
Adding to their hardships, Khreiss’s elderly sister who lives with the family battles cancer but has difficulty accessing medical treatment.
“We’re living in tents, not knowing where these days will take us. We start thinking, ‘if only we could wake up and win the lottery so we could get out of this mess’,” Khreiss said.
Even with a United States-mediated truce in place, Israeli military operations have continued throughout Lebanon while forces maintain control over portions of the southern region, demolishing structures they claim serve as Hezbollah facilities.
This includes regular controlled explosions in Khiyam, which has been almost completely leveled and abandoned by its previous population of approximately 10,000 residents.
Hezbollah forces have maintained their offensive operations against Israeli soldiers stationed in Lebanon and continue targeting northern Israeli territory.
Both Israeli and Hezbollah representatives claim the opposing side has violated the ceasefire agreement, which received signatures from Israeli and Lebanese government officials but not directly from Hezbollah leadership.
The persistent violence has intensified feelings of hopelessness among many Lebanese citizens, especially the 1.2 million displaced individuals who expected the ceasefire would enable their homecoming but instead remain permanently blocked from southern regions.
“Khiyam is my town, my region, my land, my home, my work, my people, my loved ones, everything. Of course, all my memories are in Khiyam. I miss everything about it,” said Khreiss, describing his community situated among rolling hills and agricultural areas including olive orchards.
During the previous Hezbollah-Israel conflict in 2024, one of Khreiss’s older sons suffered the loss of an eye when an Israeli attack struck their Khiyam residence. Khreiss personally extracted his children from the debris and recalls aging “years” during that single hour.
His repair shop sustained damage during that earlier conflict. Nevertheless, he returned and reconstructed his business, though he remains uncertain whether his workshop or residence survived the current destruction.
Khreiss worries that stress about his children’s prospects might cause him to suffer a stroke. He contemplates selling his vehicle if employment opportunities don’t materialize.
“It’s showing in my children that they’ve never known joy or happiness, never been to an amusement park, never had fun like other children,” he said.
“I brought them into this world, and I have to take responsibility for them and secure their future. But circumstances have forced me to do nothing for them. There’s nothing I can do.”
