Lebanon’s displaced celebrate Ramadan amid fears that border conflict might become the ‘new normal’

[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnMARWANIEH, Lebanon (AP) — Shortly before sunset on a recent evening, Mervat Reslan and a group of other women made french fries in vats of boiling oil to serve with that night’s iftar — the meal that breaks the daily fasts Muslims observe during the holy month of Ramadan.They belong to roughly 60 families who have been sheltering at an abandoned hotel in the southern Lebanon town of Marwanieh to escape the shelling and airstrikes that have made it too dangerous to stay in their homes in the country’s border region with Israel. Although they’ve become a family of sorts to one another, many long to return home.
“Especially during Ramadan, you start thinking that your house is Ramadbetter — that you and your family all used to gather together, your children and their children, your in-laws and neighbors. And now you’re sitting by yourself in a room,” said Reslan.
Those living at the Hotel Montana, which went out of business in 2005, are among an estimated 90,000 people from southern Lebanon who have been displaced by the near-daily clashes between the militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces. Another 60,000 Lebanese civilians have decided to stay in the border zone and risk the danger, according to a United Nations agency.
The border clashes began with a few Hezbollah rockets fired across the frontier on Oct. 8, the day after Hamas’ deadly incursion into southern Israel and Israel’s ensuing bombardment of the Gaza Strip. They quickly es …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]