AIN EBEL, Lebanon — Christians in the border villages of south Lebanon prepared for a subdued Christmas under the shadow of the ongoing war in Gaza and its spillover in Lebanon.
While in Beirut restaurants were packed and hundreds flocked to Christmas markets in the days leading up to the holiday, in the border towns houses were empty and businesses shuttered. The residents have fled to stay with relatives or in rented apartments in Beirut or other areas farther from the conflict.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces have engaged in near-daily clashes on the border that have killed around 150 people on the Lebanese side – most of them fighters with Hezbollah and allied groups, but also at least 17 civilians, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
Some 72,437 people in Lebanon are displaced, according to the International Organization for Migration.
In the majority-Christian village of Ain Ebel, U.N. peacekeepers handed out toys at a private school on Saturday to some 250 children whose families have remained there and in the nearby villages of Rmeish and Debel.
Saint-Joseph des Saints-Cœurs School, like most in the area, has been closed amid the fighting, which has killed three of their students.
The three sisters – Rimas Shor, 14; Talin Shor, 12; and Layan Shor, 10 – were killed along with their grandmother, Samira Abdul-Hussein Ayoub, by a Israeli strike that hit the car they were riding in on Nov. 5.
Street vendor boys pass in front of a car submerged in flood water at a highway that flooded by the rains, in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023. A rainstorm has paralysed parts of Lebanon’s cities, turning streets to small rivers, stranding motorists inside their vehicles and damaging homes in some areas. Credit: AP/Hussein Malla
“We’ve been living war in every sense of the word,” said Sister Maya Beaino, the head of the school. “Three quarters of the village has fled. The people…
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