War on all sides: Inside the only Lebanese border town where residents have stayed

Since the start of the Israel-Hezbollah war, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have fled their homes because of the fighting. But the residents of one town right in the combat zone have decided to stay.

Rmeish, just 2km (1.2 miles) from the border, is home to 7,000 Maronite Christians - and surrounded by firing on all sides.

“There’s lots of damage. Maybe 90% of houses have damage of some kind, glass smashed and cracks in the walls. I don’t know what’s going to happen when winter comes,” says Jiries al-Alam, a farmer who also works as an undertaker with the town’s church.

“We are determined to stay but hardly anyone sleeps at night because of the air strikes. Thankfully, there’s been no deaths among the residents so far, but 200 of my cattle died from the military flares,” he adds.

A day after Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on southern Israel from Gaza on 7 October 2023, its Lebanese ally Hezbollah began launching rockets into northern Israel, which in turn, started to strike Lebanon.

The residents of Rmeish began seeing rockets flying in both directions above them.

“Lots of families raised white flags on their homes and cars to say that they are peaceful and have no link to what is happening,” says Father George al-Ameel, 44, a priest and teacher in the town.

“We want to stay in our homes and don’t want any war in our town.”

Israel has issued a general evacuation order for the south of Lebanon since its ground invasion began. The UN says over 640,000 people have been displaced from there as they flee the fighting.

The Israeli government says that its military goals in southern Lebanon are to push back Hezbollah and return 60,000 Israelis displaced from its northern border towns to their homes.

On the border with Israel, Rmeish is the only Lebanese town that has not been directly ordered to leave.

While neither side has directly threatened the residents of Rmeish during the conflict, they have had their loyalty to Lebanon questioned.

“There’s been voices under the table spreading rumours that our presence here is evidence of our collaboration with Israel, the enemy. We completely reject this,” says Father al-Ameel.

It is a message reiterated by Rmeish’s mayor, Milad al-Alam.

“We’ve had no guarantees of safety from any side,” he says. “Our town is peaceful, and our only cause is to stay for our identity and our country.”