South Lebanon students return to classrooms without doors, windows after Israeli strike

Eight-year-old Yara Ajami began the new academic year in southern Lebanon this week in a classroom without doors or windows after her school was destroyed in an Israeli strike.

Ajami's elementary school in Burj Qalaway, known locally for its academic performance, was struck in May, two months after Hezbollah attacked Israel from southern Lebanon, drawing the country deeper into the regional conflict.

“We are happy to be back to school, but we were happier before. We used to draw, play, but now there are no desks or chairs,” Ajami said as she climbed a bare concrete staircase to her classroom.

Instead of returning to their damaged school building, Ajami and other students resumed classes on Monday in a nearby structure that was still under construction and originally intended for preschool children.

Sunlight entered through unglazed windows into unfinished classrooms as students attended lessons. Outside, twisted lengths of rebar protruded from the ground where walls once stood.

Many of the students come from areas heavily affected by Israeli attacks and were displaced during the war. Some, including Ajami, returned to find their homes damaged or destroyed.

‘Sadness in their eyes’

“There is sadness in their eyes, each one of them has a story,” school principal May Mehdi told AFP in the school courtyard.

“But I am happy they are here,” she said, showing photographs on her phone of the school before it was damaged.

The temporary building has no office for Mehdi and does not have a teachers' lounge.

Around 250 students are currently registered at the 24-classroom school, compared with at least 600 before the latest war began in March, when Hezbollah attacked Israel in support of Iran following US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic republic.

Israel responded with extensive airstrikes and a ground offensive that killed more than 4,300 people, including 261 children, according to Lebanese authorities.

More than one million people were displaced during the conflict. More than 800,000 have since returned following a June US-Iran memorandum of understanding and a Lebanon-Israel framework agreement that significantly reduced the violence.

In parts of southern Lebanon, schools converted into shelters now accommodate both displaced people and students, with different floors allocated to each group.

The Israeli military has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of using civilian buildings, including schools, to launch attacks or store weapons.

Rights groups have accused Israel of possible war crimes during its conflict with Hezbollah, while Lebanese authorities have accused Israel of systematically destroying villages in the south, including homes, schools, places of worship and water and electricity infrastructure.

‘Destruction, insecurity, displacement’

Many children from Burj Qalaway were unable to return to school because they remain displaced or fear returning to the town, located less than a kilometre from Israeli troops occupying parts of southern Lebanon.

An Israeli strike hit the nearby village of Qantara on Thursday.

Earlier this month, UNICEF said nearly 100,000 students in Lebanon could not return to school for the new academic year because of “damage, destruction, insecurity, or displacement”.

The agency said 436 schools had been damaged during the war, while 37 were completely destroyed.

Before the conflict, the Burj Qalaway school had a laboratory, computer room and interactive learning room.

Government-funded prefabricated classrooms are now being installed on the school grounds, where rubble from the destroyed building has yet to be fully cleared.

‘Make my father proud’

Teacher Hoda Najdi urged her students to continue their education and work towards good results despite the difficult circumstances.

“My home was destroyed and so was my school... (but) the students give us the strength and will to continue,” the 42-year-old told AFP.

Student Mohammed Mozannar, who was displaced several times in Beirut during the war, said he was “very happy to be back to make up for” the lost year.

“I had no books, no phone and no internet” to follow classes online, he said.

“I now want to make my father proud.”

For some students, however, returning to school also brought back painful memories.

Fourteen-year-old Rawan Fakih recalled the activities and exams she had experienced before the war, as well as a friend who was killed in an Israeli strike.

“I remembered the activities we used to do, I remembered how stressful exams were... and I remembered my friend who was killed,” she said.