‘Everything has changed’: bittersweet emotions as Lebanese return south

Determined to see their homes, displaced residents use shaky ceasefire to journey to their villages – but the mood turns sombre when they arrive

Mohammed Ashour was on the road at 5am, speeding towards his hometown of Shaqra.

The Lebanese army, the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah had all told residents of south Lebanon not to return, that it was still dangerous despite a ceasefire.

But the 60-year-old had been displaced for 44 days – he had counted each day – and he would not wait another hour before seeing his home.


At 3pm, Ashour was still on the road.

The normally two-hour drive turned into 10 hours, as the line of cars returning south stretched for miles down the Lebanese coastal highway.

The Lebanese army had worked through the night to repair the Qasmiyeh Bridge into Tyre, bombed by Israel hours before the ceasefire, and cars were inching over the ad-hoc crossing one by one.

“They told me my house was destroyed.

But I wanted to come and see it for myself,” said Ashour, still in his car.

He had left his family in Beirut, wanting to shield them from the destruction that awaited them in their village.