Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon – Fatima Kandeel, 43, and her two sons moved into a brand new rented residence within the southern suburbs of Beirut in March.
They’d been staying together with her sister Aida close by for 4 months after a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon had stopped the worst, however not all, of Israel’s assaults on Lebanon, and it felt good to have their very own place.
Of their barely furnished lounge in Laylake, Dahiyeh, with solely two armchairs and a shisha pipe between them, the partitions clarify the place the household stands.
A framed photograph of slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah hangs beside a martyr’s portrait of Fatima’s 21-year-old nephew, a Hezbollah fighter killed in an Israeli air strike in Jnoub in October.
Within the rubble, scraps of dwelling
When the battle in Gaza started on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah declared its help for Palestine and escalated tensions alongside the Israel-Lebanon border for a few 12 months till Israel invaded and launched full-scale battle.
The suburbs of Dahiyeh have been repeatedly focused in Israeli strikes as it’s extensively recognised as a Hezbollah stronghold.
The household’s earlier dwelling in Dahiyeh’s Hay el-Selom, a 10-minute stroll from Laylake, was destroyed by an Israeli air strike in October.
But Fatima was heat and hopeful in early June, her hazel eyes nonetheless smiling from under her hijab whereas recounting the ache of loss, displacement and hardship.
Energetic and assured, she spoke expressively, utilizing her palms as if she have been on stage.
Like many Lebanese hosts, she provided drinks and an invite for lunch whereas chatting about what it was prefer to really feel underneath assault in Dahiyeh and whether or not that modified her relationship together with her neighbourhood.
After her household’s dwelling was destroyed they usually fled to Aida’s, Fatima stated, her sons, 24-year-old Hassan and 20-year-old Hussein, managed to salvage two wardrobes and a mattress from the rubble together with different scraps from their lives there.
Happy with that small victory, Fatima flung open the bed room doorways to point out off the 2 wardrobes restored to the purpose the place it might be exhausting to guess that they had been in a bombing. The rescued mattress is utilized by one in all her sons after getting new slats and a brand new lease on life.
“These are an important items of furnishings in the home,” she stated, gently operating her hand over one of many broken surfaces.
“They’re historic [because they survived]. I used to be so completely happy we acquired them again.”
Hassan and Hussein discovered extra within the rubble of their dwelling: a stuffed toy that Hassan used to play with and some of the books from their mom’s library.
As she spoke, Fatima held the stuffed toy in her palms, smiling and it. Hussein was quietly observing his mom as she shared her ideas.
“He used to sleep with it beside him each evening,” Fatima recalled. “I couldn’t save a lot from their childhood after my divorce, however I saved this, and now it survived the battle too.”
In her bed room, a small desk holds a stack of books about historical past, faith and tradition – a fraction of what she as soon as owned.
Scars, seen and invisible
From the lounge balcony, the scars of battle are seen. The highest flooring of a neighbouring constructing have been destroyed, the decrease flooring nonetheless standing – a every day reminder of what was misplaced.
But Fatima holds Dahiyeh pricey and is set to remain.
“I like the individuals right here,” she stated. “Everyone seems to be sort. … Dahiyeh is dwelling.”
Hussein agreed that he feels most at dwelling in Dahiyeh with its sturdy sense of neighborhood and buddies and neighbours throughout.
Throughout the battle, he struggled emotionally, always careworn and moving into fights. He has seen two therapists however hasn’t felt a lot enchancment.
Not like his mom, Hussein is open to the thought of leaving Dahiyeh, however he identified practicalities – rents and the general price of residing exterior Dahiyeh are a lot greater if they might discover a place to lease.
And, he stated, they might face sectarian discrimination in the event that they relocate.
The household needed to depart Dahiyeh briefly throughout Israel’s battle on Lebanon and sought shelter within the close by coastal Beirut suburb of Jnah. Fatima nonetheless carries a painful reminiscence from that point.
A Jnah grocery retailer proprietor snidely remarked: “Take a look at these trashy Shia individuals,” as he checked out newly arrived households dressed within the slippers and pyjamas they fled in.
The remark left a scar, and he or she refuses to go away Dahiyeh once more.
“If battle comes once more, what do you train the subsequent technology?” she requested. “That it’s OK to surrender your house? Or that you simply stand your floor?”
![A busy street in Hay El Selom, decorated by posters of Hezbollah martyrs, including the late leader of the organisation, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, where Fatima and her two sons used to live before their home was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in 2024 [João Sousa/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025_0603_13502900-1-1753003833.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
‘If it have been simply me, I’d keep’
Whereas Fatima has chosen to remain in Dahiyeh, her 55-year-old sister, Iman, desires to go away.
Iman lives together with her husband, Ali, a plastering foreman, and their 4 kids: Hassan, 25, a programmer; Fatima, 19, a college scholar; and 16-year-old twins Mariam and Marwa, each at school.
All the kids nonetheless share a single bed room of their modest however mild and joyful dwelling.
The lounge was filled with laughter as Iman sat with Mariam and Hassan, passing round chocolate and juice whereas cousins chatted within the background.
There was teasing as they shared recollections of worry, displacement and resilience.
Dahiyeh has by no means been solely secure. Its historical past has been formed by the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil Struggle and Israeli assaults, together with the devastating 2006 battle.
It’s a cycle, Iman stated – one other battle, one other wave of worry and displacement. Throughout Israel’s most up-to-date battle on Lebanon, the household fled a number of occasions.
They first went to Kayfoun village within the Mount Lebanon governorate in late September, however tensions there have been excessive, and a neighborhood man unfold rumours of imminent Israeli strikes, attempting to scare displaced households away.
They left Kayfoun after every week and fled to Tripoli within the north, the place life was quieter and the presence of close by kinfolk provided some consolation, however distrust lingered.
Iman was usually judged by her hijab, which marked her as “resistance-aligned” to individuals who blamed Hezbollah for Israel’s assaults on Lebanon.
“All of us grew to become introverts,” Hassan recalled. “We stayed dwelling more often than not, however we had kinfolk close by and met some good buddies. We’d sit collectively, play playing cards. It helped.”
In early October, they adopted buddies to Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, the place they have been welcomed warmly – extra warmly, they stated, than in elements of Lebanon.
After the ceasefire, they returned. “There’s no place higher than our nation,” Iman insisted, however Dahiyeh doesn’t really feel secure to her any extra regardless of her deep ties to the neighbourhood, so she is trying to find a brand new dwelling – wherever that’s safer.
“If it have been simply me, I’d keep,” she stated. “However I’ve youngsters. I’ve to guard them.”
‘They don’t lease to Shia households’
Iman’s son Hassan remembers the primary time Israel bombed close to their residence – on April 1 in breach of the November ceasefire.
“I simply wished out,” he stated. “I don’t care the place we go. Simply someplace that isn’t a goal.”
![Iman Kandeel and some members of her family gather in their living room in Hadath, Beirut, a home they are contemplating leaving if the war between Israel and Lebanon escalates again [João Sousa/Al Jazeera]](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025_0604_161735002-1-1753006743.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80)
However discovering a brand new place to lease is much from easy.
They thought-about transferring to Hazmieh. It’s near Dahiyeh however not a part of it, making it comparatively safer. And it might be nearer to Iman’s sister Mariam, who lives there.
However Iman stated: “In Hazmieh, most of them don’t lease to Shia households, or they’d double the worth.”
Regardless of the mounting worry, the household doesn’t wish to depart Lebanon, and Hassan has turned down a job supply overseas. They’re exhausted, they stated, however not able to abandon their nation.
Even within the midst of battle, Hassan stated, his dad and mom didn’t wish to depart Dahiyeh. He needed to work on convincing them to go first to Kayfoun, then finally Iraq.
It was the identical after the ceasefire with lengthy discussions about whether or not to go away, and it was his mom’s worry for her kids that made her finally agree.
However greater than a month after they spoke to Al Jazeera in early June, they’re nonetheless trying to find a spot that may take them and that they’ll afford.
