Lebanon · updated 2h ago · 3 min read
Israeli Strike Leaves Borj Qalaouiyé School In Ruins As Yara Ajami Returns
Israeli strikes destroyed Borj Qalaouiyé school and damaged Yara Ajami's home. Yara returned to class in a windowless room in a temporary building.
10 outlets told this the same way.
10outlets compared
School returns amid rubble
An eight-year-old girl, Yara Ajami, began her first day back on Monday in a windowless classroom in Borj Qalaouiyé after an Israeli strike in May reduced the public school to ruins.
Yara Ajami described the return to school as a loss of normal life, saying, "We’re happy to return to school, but we were happier before. We drew, we played, and now there is neither a chair nor a desk," as she climbed a bare concrete staircase.
School director May Mehdi told AFP that students carried sadness and stories, saying, "In their eyes there is sadness, each one has a story (...), but I am very glad they are here," while she showed photos of the destroyed school on her mobile.
The Birj Qlaouiyé Elementary and Middle School had previously welcomed at least 600 children, but only about 250 students were enrolled in 24 classes for the return to school period.
An Israeli strike hit the village of Qantara below the school on Thursday, and the school’s temporary setup included a building under construction now hosting students up to the middle school.
Calm at night, shelling continues
L’Orient-Le Jour reported that no airstrikes or blasting were carried out in southern Lebanon by the Israeli army during the night from Thursday to Friday, while artillery attacks and machine-gun fire still targeted several sectors. A resident of Qlaylé in the Tyre district noted the absence of nighttime explosions "for the first time since June," as the article described a reduction in attack intensity in the last few hours. The same report said artillery fire hit the Wadi Slouki valley in the Marjeyoun district and the outskirts of Kfarchouba in Hasbaya, and it listed other areas targeted since dawn.
Israeli Channel 12 said on Friday that a "reorganization" of deployment in southern Lebanon is underway, including planning the construction of "new fortified positions on occupied territory," according to L’Orient-Le Jour. Israeli artillery shelled the Wadi al-Hijir, the town of Majdal Zoun, and adjacent valleys on Thursday night, according to the official Lebanese National News Agency as cited by سكاي نيوز عربية.
Water access and displacement
MSF said attacks on hydraulic infrastructure in South Lebanon have become an obstacle to the return of displaced residents, and it described repeated strikes that have caused significant damage to water sources and other vital infrastructure. MSF reported that in all the villages its teams visited, solar panels powering pumping stations were destroyed or damaged, and it said wells, pumps, and filtration units were rendered unusable. MSF warned that the damage collapses the entire hydraulic system when even one element is destroyed, and it said the destructions paralyze agriculture, the main source of livelihood and income for many families in South Lebanon.
AFP reported that more than a million people were displaced during the war, but about 800,000 returned to their homes after a US-Iranian memorandum of understanding and a framework agreement reached in June between Lebanon and Israel. AFP also said a UNICEF report released in September warned that 100,000 children in Lebanon risk not being schooled this year due to "destruction, insecurity, and displacement," and it added that 436 educational institutions have been damaged since the start of the war, including 37 completely destroyed.