For months after the Israel-Hezbollah struggle that devastated southern Lebanon, the Alawieh household would go to a hillside close to their ruined residence to catch no matter glimpse they might of what remained.
Their olive timber have been gone. So have been their goats, and the lemon and fig orchards that had taken years to bear fruit. Their home was only a pile of rubble.
Israel had agreed to a Jan. 26 deadline — two months after a cease-fire took impact — to withdraw its remaining forces from southern Lebanon. That day, Mousa Alawieh set out together with his three teenage kids and a cousin, desperate to see what was left of their residence within the border city of Aitaroun.
Mr. Alawieh, 45, a metallic employee, had been displaced for greater than a yr and struggling to make ends meet. He had hoped to salvage no matter possessions he might from the wreckage, members of the family stated.
However he by no means made it residence.
As he and his household have been driving by means of their flattened city, they encountered at the very least two Israeli troopers on the highway who shot a number of occasions on the household’s automobile, killing Mr. Alawieh, in line with video footage verified by The New York Instances and accounts from his brother and brother-in-law.
Requested concerning the capturing of Mr. Alawieh, the Israeli army stated the matter was “beneath assessment.”
Israel had delayed its withdrawal that day, however Mr. Alawieh was unaware and believed the army had begun to tug out of Aitaroun, in line with Yaacoub Alawieh, his brother.
Greater than 100,000 individuals are nonetheless displaced in Lebanon, in line with the U.N. migration company, practically all of them from the hard-hit south, the place Hezbollah has lengthy exercised de facto management. They, together with the tens of 1000’s of Israelis displaced throughout the border, are all determined to return residence.
Mr. Alawieh’s killing was a reminder of the hazards many Lebanese nonetheless face, even with hostilities paused.
The displaced are unsure about whether or not Israel will stay indefinitely in Lebanon and when they’ll be capable of return residence. Lots of their cities and villages now lie in ruins, and it additionally unclear who will foot the mammoth invoice for reconstruction.
After Israel and Lebanon agreed to increase the Jan. 26 withdrawal deadline, Israeli forces continued to occupy massive parts of southern Lebanon. A brand new date for the withdrawal was set for Tuesday, and Israeli forces pulled out of the remaining populated cities and villages alongside the border.
However the Israeli army stated this week that it meant to keep at various strategic factors inside Lebanon past the deadline for its full withdrawal.
Israel as soon as occupied southern Lebanon for 18 years and with every delay within the pullout, fears of one other extended occupation have grown.
The most recent struggle started brewing after the shock Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah started attacking Israeli positions in solidarity with Hamas, its ally.
After practically a yr of low-level clashes, Israel launched a full-scale offensive in September — assassinating lots of Hezbollah’s leaders and destroying a lot of its weapons stockpiles. It was Lebanon’s most damaging struggle in many years.
Israel has issued a sequence of warnings to residents of southern Lebanon — together with on Jan. 26 — to not return to their hometowns but as a result of its army forces have been nonetheless deployed there. However 1000’s of Lebanese have defied these orders of their eagerness to go residence.
Israeli forces killed at the very least 24 folks in southern Lebanon on Jan. 26 alone, in line with well being ministry, and extra have been killed within the days that got here after.
Mr. Alawieh was so excited to go residence that he didn’t even verify the information that day, his brother stated, so he was beneath the impression that Israeli troops had begun to withdraw to the outskirts of Aitaroun.
However as his automobile rounded a bend contained in the city, at the very least two Israeli troopers abruptly emerged within the highway forward, in line with video footage filmed from contained in the car by Ali, Mr. Alawieh’s 15-year-old son.
Mr. Alawieh panicked and slammed his car into reverse. The household raised their palms within the air. A gunshot rang out — one, two, then 20 — a salvo of bullets puncturing metallic and glass and pores and skin.
“Get down, Dad, get down!,” shouted Ali from the again seat, his sisters screaming in worry.
“No, Dad!,” shouted Ali. “Dad! Dad! Dad!”
As their father started to bleed, the Israeli troopers ordered the youngsters out of the automobile and questioned them, Mr. Alawieh’s brother stated, relaying what he was instructed by his members of the family who have been contained in the automobile on the time. The troopers then instructed them to stroll straight forward with out trying again. They left their father behind within the automobile, wounded however nonetheless alive.
Rukaya Alawieh, Mr. Alawieh’s 18-year-old daughter, was injured within the capturing and it took her an hour to succeed in the closest hospital to search out her father assist. By the point the ambulance arrived on the automobile, he was lifeless.
Like many different residents of southern Lebanon, Mr. Alawieh was affiliated with Hezbollah, in line with his brother. However he was not a fighter or a full-fledged member, the brother stated. Hezbollah has lengthy operated a roster of social and humanitarian companies in lieu of Lebanon’s ailing state, and Mr. Alawieh grew to become concerned within the group’s social work shortly earlier than his demise.
Many residents who’ve been in a position to return to their houses in southern Lebanon have usually arrived again to search out nothing left standing.
The prolonged Alawieh household misplaced 11 of their houses, stated Marwan Qassem, Mr. Alawieh’s brother-in-law, who owned a home in Aitaroun and likewise ran a big household farm there, each now in ruins.
“After I noticed the harm to the home, I requested myself, the place do I start?” he stated.
Through the struggle, Mr. Qassem and Mr. Alawieh spent months bouncing between short-term lodging with their households, attempting to flee Israel’s widening offensive.
First they fled the border area to an space the place the airstrikes quickly struck. Then they headed for the capital, Beirut, however that was bombed too. It was a seemingly infinite loop, looking for security, however by no means fairly secure.
As we speak, his household is in limbo, nonetheless unable to return residence and consumed with grief over their losses. Compelled to put their father to relaxation away from the household cemetery in Aitaroun, the youngsters have struggled to course of what occurred, Mr. Qassem stated.
Ali’s cheeky snort has given approach to reticence. And Rukaya, his elder sister who scrambled to search out assist after their father was shot, is traumatized.
“Generally she is silent,” Mr. Qassem stated. “Generally she cries.”
Arijeta Lajka and Myra Noveck contributed reporting.
