As Israel strikes deeper into Lebanon, fear grows in communities where displaced people have taken refuge

Elsewhere, in the hilly village of Ebrine, a stone’s throw from Batroun, residents regularly visit dozens of displaced families sheltering in two modest schools. An Israeli strike hit a village a short drive away this month, but that hasn’t stopped some residents from hiring displaced workers – some to work in the olive groves during the harvest season.

Back in Akaibe, some displaced women from nearby areas joined Sfeir and others volunteering in the kitchen: chopping vegetables, cooking rice in vats, packing food in plastic containers and drinking coffee together on the balcony.

“Just because we’re in an area where there’s no direct conflict or direct war doesn’t mean we’re not worried about Beirut or the south,” Flavia Bechara, the center’s founder, said during a break. from chopping onions and potatoes. “We all ate olives and olive oil from the south and went there for fruits and vegetables.”

Bechara and several women finished packing dozens of lunches for the day, and a group of women came to get winter clothes for their children. Bechara said she isn’t bothered by the criticism or questions she receives from some neighbors.

“There is always anxiety,” said Bechara, who could only recently hear strikes a short drive from Mysra. “There’s always (the fear) that what happens there could happen here at any moment.”