Life seemed to come to a standstill. The main streets were still decorated for Ramadan and almost all the houses seemed abandoned. The town was quiet, but not peaceful. Near the mosque I met two cousins, Fatmeh and Dunya, both in their 80s. Outside, a banner hung in memory of the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel in 2024. “We have seen many wars, but we have never left,” Fatme said. “No matter what happened, we thought we would rather die at home than die there.”
