By Nohad Topalian | 2023-11-29

BEIRUT -- The temporary truce declared between Israel and Hamas on November 24 offered a short respite allowing residents of Lebanese border villages to return to their homes after being forced to flee as Hizbullah escalated the fight against the Israeli army.

After Hamas terrorists raided Israel from the Gaza strip on October 7, the Iran-backed Hizbullah turned Lebanon's southern villages into a war front against Israel, resulting in the death of 109 people, at least 77 of them party fighters and 14 civilians.

The fighting displaced more than 55,000 residents, who headed toward Tyre and Beirut and its environs, according to the United Nations.

Hizbullah's escalation in the south coincided with the olive harvest season, a primary source of income for the majority of the residents of border villages, and the period when lands are prepared for cultivation with winter crops.

Residents say that Hizbullah, by dragging their villages into the conflict, exacerbated their financial problems and suffering.

The current truce is scheduled to expire early November 30 after a six-day pause in the conflict, and the parties are expected to extend it for another four days.

While many residents did not remain for long in their villages due to the prevailing atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, the pause in fighting revealed the extent of the damage caused to their homes and this year's olive harvest.

Homes, olive groves destroyed

In the border town of Alma al-Shaab, residents returned for only a few hours to assess the damage to their crops before leaving with deep sadness and out of fear of renewed clashes, deputy mayor William Haddad told Al-Fassel.

Alma al-Shaab, like other border towns, came under intensive bombardment that caused damage to a number of homes and ignited a massive fire in the olive groves located on the border.

"Seven houses were directly targeted and destroyed with others sustaining indirect damage," Haddad said. "The town's water well also took a direct hit from within Lebanese territory."

He described the situation as "very tragic," as only about 100 people were left in the town, "and I even had to rent a house in Rawda for my wife and three children to get them away from daily fear."

The biggest disaster, according to Haddad, "befell the olive, citrus and avocado season, with the burning of vast areas of perennial olive groves that take years to bear fruit, and are estimated at thousands of dunums, and we cannot assess the damage because they are in the border strip of the town."

One of the groves destroyed is owned by Elias Haddad, 34, who had stayed in the town with his mother.

"I did not leave the town despite all the bombardment we came under, whose fires burned all the olive trees I owned," he told Al-Fassel.

"This season would have provided me with approximately 40 tin cans of olive oil (20 liters each) and a large quantity of table olives, but today, nothing," he said. "The season was burned, and I cannot even cultivate my land and plant it with winter vegetables, which I [rely on as] an additional source of livelihood."

"This war hurt us a lot, and brought us back to square one economically," the deputy mayor said. "We all depend on the agricultural crops including olives, lemons and avocados to cover the winter expenses."

"We are in a very difficult situation, and we do not know what awaits us in the coming days except more difficult circumstances," he said.

For those who have remained in the town, "the municipality is trying to provide them with bread, water and electricity, however this is not sufficient ... because the small shops have closed their doors, as have the town's three schools," Haddad said.

Irreplaceable losses

In the town of Dhayra, located near the Blue Line border fence, residents returned to rubble.

The town came under a barrage of devastating bombardment after al-Quds Brigades fighters affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched an attack over the border from the town.

As a result, all of the town's approximately 3,000 residents were displaced towards Tyre and Beirut.

Janoub Sweid, her husband and three children returned to their home immediately after the announcement of the truce, after having fled on October 10.

"We, like all the other residents of the town came back to inspect our homes and lands," she told Al-Fassel. "We walk the roads and alleys stepping on the rubble left by the intensive bombardment of the town."

"Our town is devastated," she said. "Not a single house has been spared by the bombardment, and the returning residents are gathering what remains of their homes."

"Our new house, which we haven't lived in yet, was hit with several shells, while our old house has not a pane of glass left in it, but we will remain steadfast in it until the last breath of our lives," Sweid said.

"Our losses are irreplaceable," she said. "I lost 50 olive trees that were burned, along with pine trees and tobacco fields."

Fear of continued violence

Residents of the border town of Rmeich, most of whom left for Beirut five days after the outbreak of the war, returned after the truce was declared but left hours later for fear of continued violence.

They inspected their homes and olive orchards but said the olives will remain on the trees this year.

"The olive season is lost."

With these words, Victor al-Alam, 81, expressed the loss of the harvest of 130 olive trees, which used to provide him with between 27 and 100 tin cans of oil, depending on the season.

"My four brothers and I have the same number of trees, and this season we cannot reach them because they are located on the border," he told Al-Fassel. "We will not risk our lives, as we are fearful of the possibility of renewed clashes at any moment."

"Most of the people of Rmeich depend on the olive season and other agricultural seasons, and no one today has been able to reach his field," he said.

The majority of the residents who were displaced to Beirut and its environs "returned for hours, and no one was able to inspect the olive crop," he said.

"Had they been harvested, [those trees] would have produced about 3,000 tin cans of oil," he added.

The border region was dragged into a war that "exacerbated our economic and social suffering," al-Alam added.