Lebanese immigrants return to a striking homeland after the Israel War-the Prevention of God

With the intensification of the war between Israel and the Lebanese group, Hezbollah derived last September, Abed Al -Kadiri sat on television in the art studio where he was working in Kuwait.

The old master was seen in the role of Beirut, the Lebanese capital and his childhood, due to the Israeli bombing. He was stunned about what his family members, including his 13 -year -old mother and son, were with his friends, bearing there. He began to suffer from nightmares and panic attacks and could not sleep.

Determination to support his family and help his country to rebuild, Mr. Al -Kadiri decided to reserve a ticket house.

“Lebanon was going to a terrible stage,” said the old master, 40 years old, on the morning of the last days of Beirut. “Return to the only best option.”

The large and influential diaspora in Lebanon – which is about three times the size of the country’s population of 5.7 million – was declining, in the hope of providing physical and financial support to a country destroyed by one of the most bloody wars in decades in the Mediterranean nation.

Huge challenges. The returnees return to a broken country whose economy was in a crisis for years, which was long ago It suffers from sectarian tensionsPolitical quarrels and foreign intervention. Lebanon’s path It is still very uncertain After the conflict that is likely to transform the balance of power within the country and through the Middle East.

But many returnees say they felt that they had no choice, even as a ceasefire consent between Israel and Hezbollah in November Still sensitive.

Zina Kaiz, 48, said a consultant in the communications that left Lebanon in 2004 to Doha, Qatar, where she lived and has worked on that since then. She returned to Lebanon in October.

In Doha, she said, I watched on television while the families were displaced from Beirut He reached other cities and towns through Lebanon With the rest of their property. She said that deaths and destruction escalated, had an “emotional desire” to return and help.

She says Ms. Kaiz, 48, is now returned forever, in the Kora area, about 30 miles north of Beirut, where she and her husband own a house. ⁠, with the help of friends and family, led a campaign to secure supplies – blankets, medicine, food, utensils and clothes – for dozens of families displaced in their hometown and nearby villages.

She said in an interview in Patron, a coastal city that is also home to Lebanese villageA cultural and tourist project that aims to link the Lebanese abroad to their homeland.

“Lebanon deserves a better brighter and future vision,” said Ms. Kayez.

The war came again to Lebanon after the Hamas -led attack on October 7, 2023 on Israel. Hezbollah began targeting Israel in solidarity with Hamas, which led to a series of attacks by the two nipples across the Israeli border. The conflict that escalated in late September, He killed and wounded thousands of people and An estimated 1.3 millionAccording to Lebanese officials and the United Nations.

Villages and the entire neighborhoods, especially in the south, They were beaten Israel also conducted Intensive air strikes. Hezbollah, a dominant political and military force supported by Iran, has weakened hard like it Senior leaders were assassinated And its ally in neighboring Syria, Bashar al -Assad, He was expelled.

The war has exacerbated the escalating problems facing Lebanon.

the Economic chaosStarting in 2019 and aggravated by the epidemic, it was classified by the World Bank in 2021 Among the worst national financial crises Since the mid -nineteenth century. Anger from corruption led to Huge protests from the government. Then, and An explosion in the port of Beirut In 2020, parts of the capital were destroyed and hundreds were killed. For two years, Lebanon had the government of the leader of the Chargé d’Affaires, and New head and prime minister It was chosen only in January.

“These are the past few years in Lebanon like a rotating ship,” said Mr. Al -Kadiri, the artist, who left Beirut for the second time after the 2020 port explosion.

He left Lebanon for the first time to Kuwait during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. But he returned in 2014, when he was established as a studio and re -communicated with the city. He decided to leave again when the port exploded I destroyed an exhibition Where he was presenting his work. after Start an initiative Entitled “Today, I would like to be a tree” in Beirut to help rebuild homes that were shattered from the explosion, he went to Paris, hoping to find work in the arts there to support his family.

He had just arrived in Kuwait from Paris to coordinate an offer when the last war escalated.

Now he returned to Beirut again. He said: “The future can be dark, agreed and frightening, but we are here.” “Even if we leave, we still go back.”

The Lebanese began to leave their homeland in the waves that begin in the late nineteenth century, when it was under the Ottoman Empire, and continued to migrate during French rule and after independence in the 1940s. They escaped from sectarian divisions, economic crises, and famine during World War I, Political motives and Civil war From 1975 to 1990.

In countries like Australia, Brazil, Nigeria and the United States, they created and offspring a new life. Among their numbers is the international lawyer Hope Clooney And traders that turned into the phosphopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

Many also maintained a close relationship with the house: in 2023, the diaspora sent about $ 6 billion in transfers, or about 27.5 percent of GDP in Lebanon, According to the World Bank.

The war also revealed last year, the Lebanese diaspora was mobilized to raise money and emergency aid.

Many say they are watching how the new government plans to rebuild the economy, impose the sensitive truce between Israel and Hezbollah, and fix the nation before they decide to return.

Konrad Kanyan, a 31 -year -old lawyer in France, who was visiting Beirut recently, said a 31 -year -old lawyer in France who was visiting Beirut recently. The changing political geography in the region How can it affect the future of Lebanon.

At a modern dinner party at the home of Mr. Kanan’s brother in the Achrafieh neighborhood in Beirut, this was followed by an animated conversation about Syria and Gaza. A family member has twice quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and said that she is keen to understand how his vision of the new Middle East will appear. Another talked about the torment and emotional resentment of repeated wars.

They all recognized that none of them had a clear idea of ​​the future.

“I don’t think flexibility is very positive,” said Mr. Kanaan about a feature that many Lebanese cited: “It is draining.”

Many Lebanese are also wondering what will happen to Hezbollah, and how the group’s relationship with Iran will develop and whether the militants will withdraw from southern Lebanon as agreed in the armistice with Israel. While anger at Israel is high among the Lebanese, many have publicly criticized Hezbollah to attack Israel at the request of Iran.

“We love our country, but it was taken from us by the Iranians,” said Rabi Kanaan, a 35 -year -old business developer from Australia, who was visiting a family in Beirut (not the relationship of Mr. Kanaan, lawyer). Rabie Kanaan is originally from Tibnin, a town in southern Lebanon bombed by Israeli air strikes during the war. He said that his family’s house was in ruin, and he is now unable to bring his 8 -year -old daughter to visit the green hills where he grew up.

He said, “She always asks,” Dad, why are they always fighting in our country? “He tried to face this idea, and added, telling her,” As ordinary people, we only aim to peace. “

Sarah Chito has contributed to the reports from Beirut.