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Hello, my name is Laure Delacloche. I’m a journalist based in Beirut. In Lebanon, the war started in October 2023 and, despite a ceasefire brokered between Israel and the state in November 2024, the inhabitants are living in constant fear due to the ongoing Israeli airstrikes and drone strikes on the south and on the Bekaa Valley, as well as occasional bombardments on the southern suburbs of Beirut and constant drone surveillance.
And yet, depending on who I talk to, my interviewees use the present tense or the past tense to talk about the war. For some people living in Beirut or in other areas such as mountainous areas located in the north of the capital, normal life has resumed since the ceasefire was brokered after the deadly escalation that happened between September and November of last year.
In this story for ONE magazine, we focused on those who speak about the world very much in the present tense with the Sisters of Divine Charity of Besançon [Sisters of Charity of St. Jeanne-Antide Thouret]. I went to visit two families who fled their homes in the South in 2024, and now they’re stranded with few work opportunities and the rent to pay in the neighborhood of Nabaa on the outskirts of Beirut.
Their life is entirely put on hold. Their houses in the south are damaged, but still standing, but they’re afraid to return due to the daily violations of the ceasefire by the Israeli army. Some other families from the South have chosen to return amidst difficulties. This is the case of Doha Chalhoub, who’s a mother of two and who shared with ONE magazine how she fears taking her daughters to school every morning because drone strikes can happen at any time on the road.
The war has also damaged several windows in her house, but she does not have the financial means to repair them all. In the absence of support from the state, many families are left to fend for themselves regarding the renovation of their houses. Local churches are helping as much as they can. For instance, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which were relentlessly pounded by the Israeli army, the Parish of Our Lady Church in Hadat was funding new windows to protect families from the rain and the cold as the winter was approaching.
As I was writing this article for ONE magazine, the buzzing of the Israeli drone was constant over Beirut. Soon the conversation shifted again to the possibility of a new escalation that would happen after the pope’s visit, scheduled for late November.
Ms. Delacloche reports on the reality of many families displaced within Lebanon in “A Tentative Peace,” in the December issue of ONE.