In mid-October 2023, Isra Hamzi was about to take "a short walk" around her home in Meiss El Jabal, a Lebanese village on the border with Israel, when heavy Israeli shelling in the vicinity prompted her and her family to flee. "The children were terrified," said the 33-year-old Lebanese mother of three, whom we met in Bayssour, a village in the Chouf mountains in central Lebanon. "I took a few documents and a change of clothes. I had no idea this war would last so long."

Isra, her husband and their three children initially sought refuge with relatives in Dahieh, a southern suburbs of Beirut and a Hezbollah stronghold. But at the end of September, the Israeli army bombed that area intensively, forcing them to move again. The family ended up at a school in Qmatiye, a village in the hills above Beirut, which was also bombed eight days after their arrival on October 6. In search of safer shelter, Isra's husband contacted an acquaintance in Bayssour, a predominantly Druze village. "Come here, we have room for you," she told him.

At that time, the Al Samir restaurant, where Hamzi's family had set down their suitcases next to a stream, was in the process of being transformed into a hostel for displaced persons. When Israel began shelling Hezbollah bases all over Lebanon on September 23, Zaher Aridi and his cousin Anis, the managers of the establishment, immediately realized that it wouldn't be long before inhabitants of southern Lebanon would flock to the Chouf region, as they had during the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. So they erected wooden partitions in the family restaurant's large dining area to create 12 separate rooms, and installed additional solar panels to boost their electrical capacity. Similar work has been carried out at the Bayssour cultural center, which now accommodates 20 families and prepares 250 meals a day.

The Aridi family's project is financed by donations collected in Lebanon and abroad. In addition to the restaurant and cultural center, Bayssour has four other facilities for displaced persons, including two schools. "What we have set up is far from meeting demand," said 42-year-old Zaher. "We're having to turn away people who call us in desperation, because we've run out of space." The latest wave of refugees arrived after the evacuation order was issued to all Baalbek residents, provoking an exodus. "We can't do any more. This war is much worse than the one in 2006," added Anis.

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