Families fleeing Israeli attacks take refuge in Lebanon’s mountains

Qabr Chamoun, Lebanon – Tucked in the hills of Mount Lebanon, about an hour from Beirut, a school has been turned into a shelter for families displaced from southern Lebanon due to Israeli attacks.

Once filled with students, the schoolyard is now a place for aid deliveries. Slides and swings sit empty. Clothes hang between windows. Inside the classrooms, desks have been pushed aside to make room for mattresses.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

“It’s very difficult,” said Aymane Malli, holding the hand of his five-year-old son, Jad. “But for me, it’s OK because I have to survive. I have to take care of my family,” added the 49-year-old, one of about 100 people to have taken refuge at the school in Qabr Chamoun.

Malli fled with his wife and five children from Habbouch, near the coastal city of Tyre, after Israel began bombing Lebanon on March 2, two days after it launched its joint war with the United States against Iran.

“We wait,” Malli said, when asked what the coming weeks might hold. “We wait,” he repeated. “Maybe one day everything will end, and we can return home … if we can return home. We don’t have another choice.”

‘There were strikes around us’

Across Lebanon, schools, public buildings and makeshift shelters are filling with families fleeing the latest round of violence.

In late November 2024, a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah took effect after more than a year of cross-border attacks and fighting. But Israel repeatedly violated the agreement, with the United Nations documenting more than 10,000 ceasefire violations.

In recent weeks, Israel has ramped up its strikes and initiated a ground invasion of southern Lebanon after the Iranian-backed Hezbollah launched an attack in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a US-Israeli air attack on February 28.

Lebanese authorities say the latest Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,300 people, including some 120 children, and forced more than 1.1 million people from their homes as Israeli forced evacuation threats and air attacks have pushed civilians further north.

“There were strikes around us,” recalled Bilal Hussein, a 42-year-old chef, who fled with his wife and children from Tyre in the first hours of Israel’s bombardment. “We realised we had to go,” he said.

What followed was a two-day journey north, much of it spent sitting in traffic as thousands of others fled the south. The family slept in their car while Bilal drove. “I didn’t sleep for two days,” he said.

They tried four or five shelters, but they were all full. “We want to go back to our homes, our city,” he said. “It’s our place.”

‘The reality for displaced families’

Aid groups say the scenes in Qabr Chamoun are being repeated across the country, with many families arriving in the mountains only to be turned away from shelters at full capacity.

Action Against Hunger told Al Jazeera that more than 400 people had been turned away at the Qabr Chamoun school because it was full. The organisation is supporting more than 43,000 displaced people across 247 collective shelters.

“Despite our efforts and those of the humanitarian community, major gaps remain,” said Suzanne Takkenberg, the organisation’s regional director.

“Many people are still living in informal shelters or even on the streets. Reduced humanitarian funding limits the scale and speed of our response, leaving critical needs unmet and putting lives at risk.”

Conditions in some shelters are deteriorating. In some buildings, water leaks through ceilings and walls. Children are suffering from gastrointestinal illnesses and eye infections. In others, families are unable to properly clean bottles and utensils, leading to cases of diarrhoea and vomiting among infants.

“These are not isolated cases; they are the reality for displaced families across the country,” Takkenberg said.

“The most vulnerable – children, older people, and people with disabilities – are the hardest hit. One in five displaced people is a child, yet conditions are far from adequate to meet their basic needs or guarantee their safety.”

The aid group said the destruction of key infrastructure, particularly bridges and access routes across the Litani River, is contributing to the growing isolation of southern Lebanon, and preventing more families from fleeing.

Damage to farmland and supply routes is also beginning to affect food production and access, raising concerns about long-term food security.

Recent statements by Israeli officials also indicate intentions to establish a prolonged security presence or full-scale occupation in southern Lebanon, leaving many families wondering if they will ever return home.

This worries Mohammed al-Mustafa, a sweets seller from Tyre who is also sheltering in Qabr Chamoun.

“It’s not the material things I worry about leaving behind,” he said, his voice shaking. “It’s the memories. We lived in that house for 40 years. Old photographs, our lives.”

“We hope we can go back and find them.”