Rana is looking for carpets in the childhood home – which is in ruins • TV4 News in Lebanon
Deep under the pile of mortar, rebar and cars thrown into the air by the pressure wave of the bunker bomb, a round roll sticks out.
– There, there. Look there. Help me pull, says Rana Slemain.
The roll is one of her parents’ carpets buried after an Israeli bomb leveled the entire apartment building in the middle of downtown Beirut.
– My father often went to a Persian market here in Beirut. Sometimes he took his mother with him so they could buy carpets together. This particular one has strong memories for them. Even though it has a few holes, I intend to bring it. I will get it repaired, says Rana Slemain when TV4 meets her in central Beirut.
Everyone knows that the truce can be broken at any time
She, like tens of thousands of other Lebanese, has rushed to her family’s home while the ceasefire is still active. Everyone knows that it is fragile and can be interrupted at any time.
Already during the second day of the ceasefire, it has been broken at the border with Israel. The Israeli military claims to have fired on some who were at one of Hezbollah’s weapons depots, while Hezbollah claims that the Israeli military fired on Lebanese civilians.
For the time being, both Israel and Lebanon advise the population not to return to the evacuated areas near the border.
“I’m tired of war”
But to other areas that were bombed during the war, people are returning in droves. One of those whom TV4 meets is the shop owner Zainab. Many of her customers have disappeared, around 30 have died. Several of them are children who used to buy sweets from her.
– Of all the customers, I love the children the most. It’s hard to even imagine that children you saw every day, and who used to come and kiss and hug me, are now just gone. A small child buying chewing gum, what was he thinking or feeling when the bomb came? Zainab wonders.
One of many questions that get no answers.
– I am tired of war. Since I was born there have been several wars. May this be the last I get to experience. I can’t take it anymore. My emotions are numb and the tears I cry are dry, says Rana Slemain.