Shelter in Beirut for Families Fleeing War

For a moment after the bomb dropped, everything fell silent. Then windows shattered and a deafening blast rocked the house.

Fatima Haidura reacted quickly, pulling her daughter and two sons into the stairwell of their home before rushing toward their car—there was no time to pack. Fatima’s husband was just behind them. As they got into the car, they could see that the house next door had been hit by an airstrike. The children screamed as they sped through Meiss El Jabal, a small village nestled in the hills near the Israeli border in southern Lebanon. Fatima could still feel the heat from the blast on her skin, tears running down her cheeks.

Fatima and her children live in a Caritas shelter after leaving the bombing in southern Lebanon.

Photo by Stefanie Glinski for CRS

Almost 1 million people have been displaced across Lebanon since tensions between Israel and Hezbollah flared up. Most of those fleeing are women and children. Catholic Relief Services is working on the ground in Lebanon, helping displaced families like Fatima’s, who now live in a shelter in Beirut that is supported by CRS’s local partner, Caritas.

The day they fled was the deadliest Lebanon had seen since the end of its civil war in 1990: nearly 600 people were killed in airstrikes, including at least 50 children. Thousands were injured.

What should have been a two-hour drive to the capital became a grueling 19-hour ordeal. “There were traffic jams everywhere, people fleeing from all the villages,” Fatima says. “We saw more airstrikes as we left, and we were terrified.”

After leaving, Fatima’s home was destroyed by another air raid. Her neighbor and friend, Asmah, was also killed in one of the attacks. Fatima swipes through photos on her phone until she finds one taken just days before the strike. Asmah is smiling, dressed in lilac, her head tilted slightly. She, too, was a mother. Fatima stares at the picture, tears filling her eyes.

At the shelter, the family receives food, water and hygiene kits. While Fatima is grateful for the support, her longing for home is overwhelming. The uncertainty weighs on her—she doesn’t know when they’ll return or when her children will be able to go back to school. Her 12-year-old daughter Nour, a shy girl, already misses her friends. "I just want to go home," she says quietly.

Zainab holds her 2-year-old daughter Rayana after fleeing southern Lebanon.

Photos by Stefanie Glinski for CRS

Zainab, another woman in the shelter, cradles her 2-year-old daughter Rayana. She fled with her seven children from a village outside Tyre, a southern town hit by the conflict. Her journey to Beirut—which usually takes an hour—took 14 hours.  

“I feel so much uncertainty,” Zainab says. “I don’t know when we’ll go home. Right now, we need all the support we can get.”

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