Amer walks through the ruins of Qalaouiyeh’s historic quarter in southern Lebanon, where he says around 50 families once lived among stone houses more than 400 years old.Repeated Israeli bombardment has left much of the area destroyed, while residents face damaged infrastructure, the absence of water and electricity and the danger of mines and unexploded ordnance.
From higher ground above the village, Amer points towards the surrounding hills and the Ali al-Taher ridge. On September 10, Israel said its forces had established “operational control” over the ridge and destroyed a Hezbollah underground network extending for more than two kilometres, including command facilities and weapons storage areas. The powerful demolition was registered by the US Geological Survey as a magnitude-4.1 seismic event.
