Lebanese family returns home in Baalbek to find a crater where their 50-year-old house once stood

(29 Nov 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baalbek, Lebanon - 28 November 2024
1. Various of Jawhari family crying as they stand by the crater where their family house once stood
2. Jawhari family hug relatives visiting the family to support them and welcome them back to the area after two months away
3. Lina Jawhari hugging her relative as she cries
4. Pan left showing the crater where family home once stood
5. Louay Mustafa showing a photo he took of the house on his phone
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Louay Mustafa, lost his grandfather’s house:
“The pain is too deep. There are no words that can describe what happened. Pain and torment.”
7. Various of Lina Jawhari who lost her family house that her father built crying as she looks over the crater left behind
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Lina Jawhari, lost her family home in conflict:
“Suddenly, the house is gone. The house is gone because of a usurping enemy that doesn’t fear God. God suffices me, and He is the best disposer of affairs. Different generations where raised with love, with affinity. We love each other, we stand together, and no one gets upset with each other. Our life was music, dance, dabke (traditional dance). This is what the house is made up of. And suddenly, they destroyed our world. Our world turned upside down in a second. It is inconceivable. It is inconceivable.”
9. Various of Lina Jawhari going through the rubble
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Lina Jawhari, lost her family home in conflict:
“It is heart-breaking. A heartache that there is no way we will ever recover from.”
11. Various of Rouba Jawhari, showing family photos and personal belongings they managed to gather from the rubble
12. Various of Rouba Jawhari showing her grandfather's ID
13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Rouba Jawhari, lost her family house in conflict:
“We are sad that we did not take my mom and dad’s photos with us. If only we took the photos. This is what we are sad about the most. The bricks and stones are gone. We didn’t think of taking the photos to leave as a memory. It didn’t cross our mind. We thought it's two weeks and we will be back. We didn’t imagine this would happen. This is a huge shock to us. Our family house has nothing (suspicious). My siblings told you. There is nothing here. Everyone in this city was raised in this home or passed by it. What can one say? I swear I don’t know what to say and my tongue is tied. My voice is gone.”
14. Lina Jawhari picking up personal belongings from the rubble
15. Jawhari family delighted to find a metal structure made by their father
16. Mustafa carrying the church part of the metal structure designed by his late grandfather. Structure included a mosque and a church sharing the one door
17. Jawhari family carrying the structure, UPSOUND (Arabic) Lina Jawhar: “We must find it (the mosque part) to return it to what it was.”
18. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Louay Mustafa, lost his grandfather’s house in conflict:
“Thank God we were not hurt and we are all ok. But these stones are very precious for us. Very precious. Some may ask, why cry over bricks and stones? it is not only stones. This place held our memories, childhood, and life. If we were here, what would have happened? We wouldn’t have gotten out. It’s (The crater is) 11 meters deep.”
19. Various of Jawhari sisters looking through rubble for personal belongings
20. Zena Jawhari carrying a photo of her father the family found in the rubble
21. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Zena Jawhari, lost her family house in conflict:
22. Ali Wehbe, neighbor who also lost his house, going through the rubble
23. Rubble
30. Jawhari family getting in cars to leave




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