The Lebanese see hope and beauty ahead of the fragile fire request | Israel attacks Lebanon News

Beirut, Lebanon – In the past two months, the St Francis Church in Hamra has taken in families that were displaced from southern Lebanon and Dahiyeh, the constellation of Beirut.

It’s been a difficult time for many families who fled Israeli bombardment and ground attacks in the south, but since early Wednesday when the ceasefire began, there has been a different energy in the air.

Standing by the entrance to the church’s parking lot, where the evicted have pitched their tents, Ibrahim Termos, 25, expressed joy when asked about the ceasefire on Wednesday.

Around him, people were gathering their tents and belongings as they prepared for the journey back home.

“It’s not just that we stopped fighting, but that we won the ceasefire agreement,” said Termos, smiling. He lost his home in the war, but the fact that the nightmare of the past two months is over has made him focus on the positive.

“Our apartment was destroyed, but the building is still standing,” said Termos.

A celebratory mood

After nearly 14 months of fighting, the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and Israel agreed to a ceasefire.

It stipulates that Israel must withdraw from Lebanon, and Hezbollah will retreat north of the Litani River. The Lebanese army will work to fill that space on the Israeli border within 60 days.

While some people were skeptical that Israel would fully commit to the weapons request – doubts that resurfaced on Thursday when Israel opened fire on several locations in Lebanon – the mood was mostly upbeat.

A quarter of Lebanon’s population has been displaced by the war, and videos and photos of crowded streets circulated on social media as people returned to their homes before daybreak on Wednesday.

Beirut was in a jubilant mood that morning as cars were loaded with mattresses and other supplies from hotels and shelters.

Posters of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah adorned many cars, while others waved Hezbollah flags from their windows.

Other photos also showed the late Hachem Safieddine, who was thought to be the one to replace Nasrallah before his assassination a few days after Nasrallah.

In Zkak el-Blat, a motorcycle procession flying the red and green flags of Harakat Amal, the party of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who negotiated a ceasefire on behalf of Hezbollah, came down the street, cheering.

‘I hope …’

At St Francis Church, most of those who left their homes had homes to return to and left in the morning.

Others whose homes are in the south in places like Khiam where the damage was brutal and Israeli soldiers may still be there said they would stay another day.

The people in this shelter have lived through difficult times, but many are hopeful that this fragile peace will last and the country will once again prosper.

“I hope we have a good future without violence,” said Mohsen Sleiman, 48. “And in the future of our children, they don’t see war and destruction.”

Despite losing his house in Dahiyeh and his home in his hometown of al-Bayyaada in southern Lebanon, Sleiman remains defiant, insisting that the most important thing is his family’s safety.

“We’re used to this,” he said. “It is a victory for all of Lebanon, not just one sect.”

Hussein Ismail, 38, was standing nearby, watching his young son bounce the ball in his hands.

Born during the Lebanese Civil War, he has lived through the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

Raising his hands up, he exclaimed: “We have been living in a place like this since our childhood.

“Now, we want to live independently.”

“I will go home, God willing,” he said. “I don’t know if my home is in Choueifat [a neighbourhood in Dahiyeh] it’s still standing, but everything will be fine.”

‘There’s beauty in what’s to come’

Father Abdallah, wearing a brown dress and glasses, talks to homeless people who are gathering and preparing to go home.

“I’m glad that people will be able to go home,” he said.

“There is joy and feelings of victory. They are all happy. They see that there is beauty in what is to come.”

His Roman Catholic church, Abdallah said, opened its doors to everyone in need, regardless of sect or religion.

“We welcomed them. Ultimately, what matters is the dignity of life. There is very little dignity.”

Many in Lebanon doubted that the ceasefire would ever work, but when it did, there was an outpouring of joy everywhere.

On the other hand, Abdallah spoke of a cautious hope.

“For me, I say, if God wills it, it’s stuck,” he said. “It depends, but the hope is that it is 100 percent complete.”

A fragile but likely lasting peace

As the day wore on, reports of Israeli violence poured in as its soldiers injured two journalists in Khiam and fired on vehicles. But the ceasefire however seemed to stand.

In the meantime, breaking the ceasefire would not be good for either side as the political and military consequences would outweigh any potential benefits.

In a bookstore in Hamra, gray-haired intellectuals sat among stacks of books, discussing the latest developments.

“The whole issue was not about Lebanon,” said Sleiman Bakhti, the owner of the store. “Discussions [with Israel] you should have been direct [Hezbollah’s main backers] Iran.”

Bakhti believes that a new chapter is emerging in Lebanon, defined less by Iran and more by Israel and its allies – and the ceasefire may be the first stage in that new chapter.

Also sitting in the bookstore is long-time radio host Bassem Elmoualem, an expert on the United States and Central America.

While many looked at the short-term effects of the ceasefire, Elmoualem’s decades as a political observer taught him to look at the bigger picture.

He said Israel’s actions had led to the downfall of his image around the world.

“On October 7 [2003] it was the beginning of the end,” he said. “[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is dead.”