Rita Elias and her family fled southern Lebanon to shelter with relatives in Beirut during the last war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, returning only after a truce. This time, she stayed to protect her property, her husband¡¯s trucking business and their tobacco farm.
¡°We didn¡¯t want to leave and come back to nothing,¡± the 36-year-old mother of two young children said from the predominantly Christian town of Rmeish, near the border with Israel. ¡°We don¡¯t want to lose our livelihood.¡±
Thousands of Christians in the south are caught in the crossfire of a conflict inextricably linked to the attacks on Iran by the U.S. and Israel; after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in support of Tehran on March 2, Israel retaliated, issuing sweeping evacuation orders as it announced?its intention to wipe Shia militants from their southern bases, parts of Beirut and the Beqaa Valley.
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