{"id":27185,"date":"2026-03-19T20:31:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T20:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/27185\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T20:31:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T20:31:28","slug":"in-lebanon-war-and-displacement-mar-run-up-to-eid-al-fitr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/27185\/","title":{"rendered":"In Lebanon, war and displacement mar run-up to Eid al-Fitr"},"content":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT (AP) \u2014 Back home, Lilian Jamaan would have been shopping for clothes for her daughter and buying meat and sweets in preparation for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr<\/a> that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But now, \u201cthere\u2019s no joy for Eid or for Ramadan or for anything,\u201d she said by phone, speaking from a school-turned-shelter in the Lebanese city of Sidon. <\/p>\n

As Muslims worldwide prepare for the typically joyous holiday, Lebanon has crossed a grim milestone. The renewal of the war<\/a> between Israel and the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group has displaced some 1 million in Lebanon. Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people, Lebanese health officials say. <\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Iran-backed Hezbollah entered the wider Iran war<\/a> by firing rockets at Israel, prompting heavy Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon and Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs, driving many from their homes.<\/p>\n

Longing to return home <\/p>\n

Basma Alloush, a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee, said many of the children she spoke with have the same wish \u2014 \u201cto just spend Eid at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, they now have to spend the holiday \u201cin shelters, in displacement,\u201d Alloush said.<\/p>\n

The suffering has played out during Ramadan, with scenes of people forced to flee their homes<\/a>, sleeping in tents on the streets or in their cars. Some have secured coveted spots in schools and other locations turned into shelters or are staying with relatives. <\/p>\n

Many others scrambled to find makeshift arrangements \u2014 only a fraction of the displaced, some 130,000 people, are in shelters. <\/p>\n

For Jamaan, the harsh conditions meant she could no longer observe many aspects of Ramadan \u2014 the dawn-to-dusk fasting, increased worship and usually festive gatherings with loved ones.<\/p>\n

At home, she said she would fast, pray and read the Quran, the Muslim holy book, during Ramadan.<\/p>\n

Now, she stopped her fast as the stress of the war and displacement became too much. She hopes to make up for the missed days when she returns home. <\/p>\n

\u201cFood is the last thing on my mind, but the circumstances are difficult,\u201d she said. Jamaan and her daughter sleep with others in the school while her husband sleeps in the car. <\/p>\n

She misses her loved ones and her Ramadan routine. \u201cWe would break our fast, pray, make and drink coffee and I would go to the neighbors or they would come over after iftar,\u201d the fast-breaking meal, she recalled.<\/p>\n

Asmahan Taleb, who\u2019s also displaced in Sidon, said the run-up to Eid has been marred by hardship.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can we celebrate Eid when we\u2019re displaced from our homes and our land? Where is the Eid? Where is the happiness?\u201d she said. \u201cIt will be Eid when we can return to our homes.\u201d<\/p>\n

One crisis after another<\/p>\n

As for many Lebanese, this is not Jamaan\u2019s first displacement. <\/p>\n

Her daughter, she said, was born during an earlier wave of displacement from a round of fighting that was halted with a tenuous ceasefire<\/a> in November 2024. <\/p>\n

Israel continued to launch near-daily strikes in Lebanon after the ceasefire that it said aimed to stop Hezbollah from rebuilding.<\/p>\n

\u201cLebanon for us is really now the epicenter of the more immediate humanitarian fallout of this broader regional crisis,\u201d said Carl Skau, deputy executive director and chief operating officer of the U.N. World Food Program. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople here have endured crisis after crisis. They\u2019ve been displaced before. But that doesn\u2019t make it any easier,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He said people he met were exhausted and hadn\u2019t yet recovered from their last displacement.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s not all that\u2019s different now. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern is that the funding is not coming forward like it did last time,\u201d he told The Associated Press. \u201cWe know there is less money available<\/a>. We know there is also competing priorities. … We will need to make an effort that really donors step up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since March 2, the WFP has provided more than half million hot meals to displaced people in shelters across Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Response efforts and overwhelming needs<\/p>\n

Online, volunteers, organizations and businesses have come together to make, package and distribute hot meals for iftar and donate essentials \u2014 from blankets and clothes to baby formula and medications.<\/p>\n

But the needs are many.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a dire need for shelter,\u201d Alloush said, recounting how during a recent thunderstorm, she couldn\u2019t help \u201cthinking about the people that were sleeping outside, sleeping in tents that are not waterproof, sleeping on the mud.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IRC has been distributing mattresses, pillows and blankets, as well as coloring books.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t have enough clothes,\u201d she said. \u201cChildren fled with no toys or no activities to kind of get their minds off of the war.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eman Abo Khadra, who owns a hair salon in Sidon, said she tried to bring a bit of Eid cheer to some displaced children the way she knows best: giving them haircuts as a gift.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a morale thing,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat does a child know about war or no war. \u2026 It\u2019s just about planting some joy in their hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite her gesture, the toll is daunting. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was telling them, \u2018Come on, clap; be happy; laugh,\u2019 but … tensions are high,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople are tired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheltering in Sidon, Alia Ismail said it\u2019s hard to properly observe Ramadan or tap into the Eid joy.<\/p>\n

For the holiday, her children tell her, \u201cWe want clothes; we want to go out; we want sweets,\u201d she said. \u201cI tell them, \u2018I can\u2019t get you that. There\u2019s no money.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In normal times, she would have been cleaning her home, buying clothes, meat and sweets for Eid. <\/p>\n

Now she sleeps in a school hallway, rolling up some clothes as a pillow under her head, she said.<\/p>\n

Striving to recapture a taste of the holiday<\/p>\n

In a school that sheltering hundreds of people in Beirut, Lebanon\u2019s capital, some tried to recapture a taste of Ramadan traditions and the lives they left behind. <\/p>\n

Hallways between classrooms were adorned with decorations. One family placed a small gas burner and some meal packages from charities on a few desks lined up together. <\/p>\n

Among those living at the school was Shaker Araqa, who lamented how his extended family has been dispersed by this war. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to gather,\u201d he said. \u201cNow, everyone is in a different place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nabila Hijazi, who is also living at the school with her children, say they keep asking her about the holiday and when they will return home. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to live their lives,\u201d she said. \u201cWe tell them \u2018God Willing, Eid comes and we return to our homes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In Sidon, Jamaan said she prays \u201cfor God to stop the war, for us to return to our homes and for there to be peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Fam reported from Cairo. Associated Press journalist Mohammed Zaatari in Sidon, Lebanon, contributed to this report<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration<\/a> with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BEIRUT (AP) \u2014 Back home, Lilian Jamaan would have been shopping for clothes for her daughter and buying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[719,2371,12731,12729,847,12730,197,100,12727,196,598,37,93,12732,463,12514,12728,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-27185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lebanon","8":"tag-2024-2025-mideast-wars","9":"tag-2024-2026-mideast-wars","10":"tag-alia-ismail","11":"tag-basma-alloush","12":"tag-beirut","13":"tag-carl-skau","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-hezbollah","16":"tag-holidays","17":"tag-iran-war","18":"tag-islam","19":"tag-israel","20":"tag-lebanon","21":"tag-lilian-jamaan","22":"tag-religion","23":"tag-shelters","24":"tag-world-food-programme","25":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116257743899856796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}