Anisa sat on a plastic chair, a framed portrait of her son, Mouhamad, on another chair beside her. In front was a building turned mostly to rubble. At her back was her own blackened home, the floors of the rooms inside thick with ash; Hebrew graffiti marking the walls; empty cans and water bottles with Hebrew-language labels scattered around.
Anisa’s palms were dark from ash too – she had no running water to clean them, she explained. An Israeli drone buzzed overhead as she spoke.
Anisa’s home, in Aitaroun, is right beside the Israeli border. This village – one of the largest in southern Lebanon – was devastated during the war. Until recently it was partially occupied by Israeli forces, who launched a land invasion of Lebanon on the night of September 30th last year.
Friday, February 28th saw a mass funeral in Aitaroun for 95 people – so many that their coffins arrived in the town on four flatbed trucks, three or four coffins wide and six long. One of them belonged to Anisa’s son, Mouhamad. Two of her other sons had also died as fighters, she said.
Among those being laid to rest that day were also civilians, including 16 women, five children and 10 civil defence workers. Many people who died during the war – both from Israeli attacks and of natural causes – were temporarily buried elsewhere until their villages and towns were safe to return to and funerals could be finally held.
Israeli troops remain in several “strategic points” in south Lebanon, in what locals criticise as a violation of the ceasefire agreement that was reached in November, which saw most of Israel’s forces withdraw by February 18th. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz recently said they will stay in what he called a “buffer zone” “indefinitely”, in what Hizbullah has condemned as an occupation.
Still, the Israeli troops’ further withdrawal means more people from Lebanon’s southern borders have finally been able to return home, even if only to discover how little remains.
The dead are being grieved and celebrated. Visitors approaching Aitaroun are now met by a banner reading “paradise of the martyrs”, stretched across the road. Pictures of slain men have been tied to trees, along with Hizbullah flags.
On October 8th, 2023, Hizbullah launched rockets towards Israeli-controlled territory “in solidarity” with Hamas, sparking the latest conflict between Israel and the militant group. The war saw a huge escalation in September 2024, when Israel began an aerial campaign which experts called one of the most intense in contemporary history. Close to 4,000 people in Lebanon were killed between October 2023 and November 2024, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
[ In pictures: The rubble of Lebanon by Sally HaydenOpens in new window ]
[ Sally Hayden: South Lebanon after the ceasefireOpens in new window ]
Some of the recently buried fled Aitaroun during the war, taking shelter in Aitou, a Christian town in the north. More than 20 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a residential building there last October.
Walking around Aitaroun, graffiti was clearly visible on many homes. A lot seemingly referenced the names of military units or insider jokes among soldiers, but there was also writing that said “death to Arabs”, and “Kahane was right,” an apparent reference to the late Meir David Kahane, a far-right ultranationalist American-born Israeli and founder of the Jewish Defense League, which was designated a terrorist group in the US. Kahane publicly called Arabs “dogs” and advocated for the mass expulsion of Palestinians, along with violence to protect Jewish people.
The Star of David had also been painted in multiple places, though an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokeswoman said graffiti in combat zones is “strictly prohibited and goes against the values of the IDF”.
There were more reminders of Israeli soldiers. Food and drink cans, and water bottles with Hebrew labels, were scattered around the insides of multiple partially destroyed houses. On one upper floor appeared to be the remains of a fire where food was cooked.
In one building, which locals said Israeli soldiers had been killed inside, The Irish Times saw the remains of a wound dressing, including Celox haemostatic gauze with blood on it.
Hizbullah is paying reconstruction money to people who had their homes damaged or destroyed during the conflict, though some told The Irish Times that the latest payments were delayed as Hizbullah struggles with its finances. In a report released on Friday, the World Bank estimated the cost of reconstruction and recovery from the war in Lebanon to be €10.15 billion.
That same day, Israel launched further air strikes across southern Lebanon, saying it was attacking Hizbullah military sites. Israeli media also reported that the IDF escorted hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jews to a tomb inside Lebanese territory, in what Lebanon’s army called “a blatant violation of Lebanese national sovereignty”.
At the mass funeral in Aitaroun a week before, people sat on the caved roofs of bombed houses and walked carefully over rubble, balancing as they found a footing .
Below them were stalls with cake, water and soup in plastic bowls for mourners, crowds of whom had gathered, dressed in black. Drops of disinfectant wafted through the air as medics sprayed it on the coffins.
Some women carried the boots of dead fighters filled with flowers; others held photos of their dead in the air.
A voice on a loudspeaker began shouting above dramatic music: “We support Palestine, the young people there are fighting for their freedom”.
Farmer Hamad Saleh (40) said he left home at 7am and travelled about 140km from Baalbek, in eastern Lebanon, to show his support to the residents of Aitaroun.
“We’re here to prove that we’re from the resistance. Everybody from the resistance is celebrating today,” he said, referring to the belief that now the “martyrs” will be in paradise. The invitation called the event both a funeral and a “wedding”.
“Every village that was against Israel, that has martyrs, they are important for the world. Not just in Gaza but in Yemen, in Lebanon, in Iraq,” Saleh said.
He said he lost his uncle and some neighbours in the war. In Aitaroun, “obviously it’s sad to see the damage”.
A 55-year-old woman from the village, who gave her name as Um Hassan, said it was a “happy day.”
“It’s a day to be proud because the blood of the martyrs is why we’re standing here and why the Israelis will never take this land. The Israeli army invaded, then they left, and they were humiliated because of us.”
She had tears in her eyes as she explained she lost nine members of her family and her home in the war, “but I don’t care because I’m back now”. She originally escaped the village on October 8th, 2023, and had only returned once since, during a brief ceasefire, to bury her aunt.
Now, she hoped to rebuild. “Bigger and better,” chimed her husband, who gave his name as Bou Hassan. He said Aitaroun had been known for its tobacco, and “now the farmers are coming back, replanting”.
Still, he said they were shocked by what they had found. “They were disrespecting homes, robbing them, looting them, making graffiti, burning them. Every home they were going into, if they didn’t find anything worth taking they were burning it. They took out a lot of olive trees and burnt them. Or took them to Israel.”
An IDF spokeswoman said the IDF “remains committed to defend Israel and its citizens, while operating in accordance with international law.” She said strikes were on Hizbullah-related targets and made “in accordance with international law, taking all feasible precautions to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure. It is important to emphasise that Hizbullah consistently violates international law by integrating its military assets within civilian areas, and systematically exploits civilian infrastructure for terrorist purposes, using Lebanese civilians as human shields.”
She also said the IDF “does not seek to harm the environment”.
Sitting slumped in front of her broken home, Anisa – who did not want her surname published – said she was too “tired” to attend the full funeral of her son, and the 94 others.
“I don’t see hope, look at my house,” said Anisa, throwing her palms upwards. She also accused Israeli soldiers of stealing her olive trees; of burning the home she had lived in for decades and raised her children in.
“My husband is a cab driver. We lost everyone, there’s no one helping us,” Anisa said. She has one daughter and son still alive, she added, but she mourns her three sons who died fighting Israeli forces. Part of that sadness seemed to come from recognising that there could have been another path for them besides joining Hizbullah.
“My sons, they’re all educated,” she said. “They went to school, they had jobs. But it was the environment around them that meant they had to fight.”
