Lebanese on the edge of Israel's occupation live with fear and rising
tensions
[June 24, 2026]
By SARAH EL DEEB
JDEIDAT MARJAYOUN, Lebanon (AP) — Looking out from a friend’s balcony,
Milia el-Cheikh struggled to find her own home in the ruins of her
now-deserted village, its entrances strung with barbed wire.
Her village of Dibbine is one of several Shiite-majority communities
across southern Lebanon destroyed by Israeli forces battling the
Iran-backed Shiite Hezbollah. Israel has occupied vast areas and
fighting has raged through declared ceasefires. The latest truce — part
of the interim peace deal between the United States and Iran — appears
to be holding.
El-Cheikh, one of the few Christians from Dibbine, found shelter in
another village but regularly visits Jdeidat Marjayoun, a mostly
Christian village next to her hometown, to have coffee with a friend
from church. Before the war, it was a comforting ritual. Now it takes
place against a backdrop of loss and fear.
“I don't know anything about my house,” she said. “Nothing is more
agonizing than not being able to get to your home.”
Jdeidat Marjayoun is one of a string of towns and villages visited by
The Associated Press on the blurry edge of the Israeli-occupied zone of
southern Lebanon. The military has pushed out the mostly Shiite
population, believing they harbor Hezbollah, and many towns have been
demolished.
Residents of neighboring Christian, Sunni and Druze communities have
been allowed to stay, but the conflict has transformed their lives.
Their homes have been struck, road closures have isolated them from the
rest of Lebanon, and nighttime raids by Israeli troops have terrified
residents.
Israeli warnings against hosting Hezbollah fighters have effectively
barred them from taking in displaced Shiites, driving a wedge between
longtime neighbors and stoking political and sectarian tensions.
Lebanon is a linchpin for the Iran deal
The latest conflict began when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel days
after Israel and the U.S. launched their war on Iran on Feb. 28. Israel
invaded Lebanon and has expanded its zone of control up to 12 kilometers
(7 miles) deep in places.
As troops advanced, Israel warned people to leave large areas of
southern Lebanon, and in April published a list of 53 towns and villages
— mostly Shiite — where residents are barred from returning. On
Thursday, it added eight more predominantly Shiite villages.
Israel says its troops will remain in southern Lebanon for self-defense.
It says Hezbollah was deeply entrenched and has released videos
purporting to show tunnels and other military infrastructure in
residential areas.
Iran says any wider truce must include Lebanon and that Israel must
withdraw, while Hezbollah says it will resist occupation. Lebanon's
government has also called on Israel to withdraw.
They live in the Israeli military’s shadow
Mixed villages and towns on the edge of the security zone, spread over
hills and valleys among orchards and olive groves, stand within sight of
their devastated neighbors. Residents have vowed to stay.
The Shiite town of Khiam — now an empty white swath of flattened
buildings controlled by Israel — can be seen from the Christian village
of Qlayaa.
Qlayaa’s residents are effectively barred from reaching their olive
groves in the valley between. “Now another season is lost,” said Hanna
Daher, Qlayaa’s mayor.
A priest in Qlayaa was killed by shelling as he inspected an earlier
strike, and a father and his two children were killed in a drone strike
while driving to Qlayaa. Israel says it only targets militants.
In Jdeidat Marjayoun, a house was bombed on suspicion that militants
were using it. Rockets — believed to be from Hezbollah — damaged a
church’s dome. In other places, solar panels, power transmitters and
water stations have been hit.
El-Cheikh fled Dibbine with her neighbors in early March after Israel
warned people to leave. In late May, following weeks of fighting,
Israeli forces raided Dibbine before withdrawing in early June.
As the fighting raged, el-Cheikh’s friend, Lolitta Costantine, huddled
with her husband in their home in Jdeidat Marjayoun, and at one point
stayed with neighbors. Cracks caused by explosions run down the walls of
her home. Windows were shattered and doors knocked loose. She keeps
shrapnel as a reminder of the ordeal.
“We didn’t know where the danger was coming from,” Costantine said.
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Wadiaa Salloum lights candles inside St. Georges Orthodox Church in
the southern town of Jdeidat Marjayoun, Lebanon, Wednesday, June 10,
2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) CORRECTION: City corrected to Jdeidat
Marjayoun, instead of Marjayoun
Tensions rise as the displaced are turned away
Shiites seeking shelter from the fighting have been turned away by
those who fear Israeli strikes or eviction, aggravating tensions
that have been mostly dormant since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.
When a Qlayaa resident hosted a friend from a Shiite village in his
orchard, his house was bombed, said Daher, the mayor. Other
residents have asked Shiites seeking refuge to leave.
“We told them, we don’t want problems for you or for us,” Daher
said.
Israel has warned Jdeidat Marjayoun’s municipality not to allow in
people displaced from neighboring villages, saying it could put the
town at risk or force it to be evacuated, the municipality said on
social media.
“We were forced to ask some to leave the town,” said the parish
priest, Father Philip Habib Okla. “It caused many disagreements and
tension,” he added. “We are counting on faith to remain united.”
The Israeli military said it has warned people in parts of southern
Lebanon not to allow Hezbollah to use their villages. It said
Hezbollah operates in civilian areas, endangering residents.
During Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation of southern Lebanon, the area
was a bastion of the South Lebanon Army, a mostly Christian militia
working with the Israeli military. When Israel withdrew, some of
them fled to Israel while others faced trial in Lebanon, where they
were widely seen as collaborators.
Some residents worry they will be unfairly painted with that brush
for staying in their homes. Few are willing to speak of the tensions
openly, fearing retaliation by Israel or Hezbollah.
At a church visited by AP, a man shouted in exasperation that
everyone had become suspicious of each other, even among Christians.
He blamed Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon into the war, saying it had
made a serious mistake.
‘It is like the West Bank here’
Late one night in March, Israeli forces surrounded a building in the
mostly Sunni village of Halta. They burst in and arrested Chadi
Abdel-Al, who screamed “my heart” as he was being beaten and dragged
into a van, according to his mother, Ayesha al-Qaderi, who lives in
the same building.
In the commotion, a 15-year-old relative, Mohammad Abdel-Al, ran
through the dark in his pajamas toward the house, his grandfather,
Hatem, said. The Israeli soldiers shot him dead. A neighbor, who was
out on his balcony, was wounded.
The Israeli military said it had detained the commander of a local
militant group.
In a separate incident, Israeli troops detained three farmers from
Halta during a raid on a nearby village.
They are among at least eight people detained by Israeli troops
since March, according to Lebanese media. The Israeli military says
they were suspected of involvement in militant activities and plots
against its troops.
“We still don’t know why they kidnapped them. Maybe to instill fear
in the village and to send a message that they see everyone,” said
Issa Abdel-Al, the community’s leader.
“It has become like the West Bank here,” he added, referring to the
occupied Palestinian territory.
Al-Qaderi, who has heard nothing about her son since he was spirited
away, said: “I just want to know his fate.”
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