The business owners arrived one by one, but on a chilly December morning, they were all united in their mission to salvage everything from the shattered market in this hilly city in southern Lebanon.
A photo studio owner and his son trudged through the rubble and twisted metal to retrieve dust-covered negatives and camera lenses. The clothing store owner dragged a garbage bag containing the leggings and retrieved it from under the destroyed rebar. And the optician shop owner was standing on a shattered concrete slab that was once the roof of his shop's building.
“Everything is gone,” said Raed Mokared, 58, who ran an eyewear business and a gold and watch shop in the same building with his brother. “An orange fireball wiped everything out.”
Israel has carried out heavy airstrikes and ground strikes into southern Lebanon in late September in retaliation against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has been attacking in solidarity with Hamas after the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel. The invasion began. A fragile 60-day ceasefire signed in November temporarily halted the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
The city of Nabatiyeh, which shares its name with the surrounding province where Hezbollah had its main influence, had its historic market destroyed by an Israeli attack on October 12, at the height of the war. Lebanese officials said another airstrike hit a nearby town hall a few days later, killing at least 16 people, including the mayor.
Israel said it had attacked Hezbollah targets in the area, but could not independently confirm the claim. Amnesty International said it found no evidence of military targets at the city's headquarters.
Air strikes across the province, which borders both Israel and Syria, have left behind a scene of devastation and ruin that many Lebanese say is unlike anything they have seen before. A World Bank report estimates the economic losses suffered by Nabatié Governorate during the war with Israel at $1.5 billion.
On a recent morning, two weeks after the ceasefire, New York Times reporters arrived at the market as residents and business owners came to investigate and clean up the wreckage. They said they drove one by one across rutted, bomb-destroyed roads to arrive at the centuries-old market they affectionately called the souq. Once a bustling hub for peddlers and shoppers from all over Lebanon, it is now a remnant of its glorious past.
Iconic stores such as candy stores that had been around for decades were wiped out. Collapsed walls, broken glass, and twisted steel beams were scattered everywhere. Instead of the fragrant herbs and fresh produce that many once sought at markets, a smoky, burnt smell still swirled in the air.
A mannequin is perched on top of a pile of rubble and wire. Receipts, CDs, and tattered sneakers were scattered on the charred sidewalk.
“This is a disaster,” said Niran Ali, 58, as he stood in the middle of the wreckage.
For 16 years, she co-owned a children's clothing store in the market and used it to support her family of four. Now, nearly everything is gone, about $100,000 worth of items, she said.
“The destruction is painful to see,” she said. “Our only hope is in God.”
Just across the street, Abed al-Rauf Farhat, 34, surveyed the damage to his father's photography studio. The attack did not completely collapse the building, but it left deep cracks, exposed beams and a leaking roof. Inside, everything was covered in thick dust: a broken copy machine, a camera, and a wooden photo frame.
Farhat's father Hamza opened Amal Photo Studio Lab in 1982. Since then, generations of families from all over Nabatié have come to have their weddings and graduations photographed. His eldest son Farhat, 65, also mentored young photographers. Among them is his own son, who has since worked as a photographer and videographer in the Middle East and Africa.
Mr Farhat said the damage caused by the bombing had turned a facility that was a symbol of community and collective memory into a cruel reminder of the great cost of war. “Everything is gone,” Farhat said. “But Father and Nabatier are still standing and he will start from scratch again.”
The story of this photography studio, and that of the larger market, is inextricably intertwined with the city's turbulent past. Israel attacked Nabatiyeh in 1974 and 1978 and occupied it for three years starting in 1982, after invading southern Lebanon in retaliation for the Palestine Liberation Organization's shelling of northern Israel. It also shelled Nabatiyeh in 1993 and 1996, and during a month-long war in 2006 that clashed with Hezbollah in the region.
Hezbollah is a powerful force in Nabatiyeh, which has a majority Shiite population, but the organization does not enjoy unanimous public support. In several streets in the city, pictures of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, assassinated by Israel in September, are plastered on walls and telephone poles.
When Israel attacked the market in 2006, managers said Iranian-backed groups gave them money to rebuild. This time, with Hezbollah weakened, its military capabilities and infrastructure degraded, and its allies in Syria expelled, no one approached Hezbollah to assess or offer assistance, executives said. Ta.
Hezbollah announced in late December that it plans to rebuild villages in the south hit by Israeli attacks. Hezbollah officials said priority would be given to families whose homes were completely or partially destroyed, but did not say when or if businesses would receive financial assistance.
Hezbollah also said that the task of reconstruction is a national one, and states with significant powers have a responsibility to help their peoples recover.
“Every few years we lose everything,” said Khalil Tarhini, 67, whose lingerie and underwear store went bankrupt. When his store was damaged in 2006, he said Hezbollah gave him $18,000 in compensation, part of the more than $100,000 he lost. He said he had to sell real estate to rebuild his business.
“I'm coming back, but it's going to take a while,” Tarhini said, staring at bulldozers clearing rubble from where her shop once stood.
For now, a slow and grueling rebuilding process has begun. Advertisements and billboards in Arabic can be found all over Nabatié, proclaiming: “Together we will rebuild” and “It will get better.”
Hassan Jamal Sabbari and his family returned to the city from the capital, Beirut, hours after the ceasefire took effect at the end of November.
What he found brought him tears, he said. The gas station and car wash his grandfather first built decades ago was gone. His apartment on the street, which had been furnished with luxurious cream-coloured furniture, was ransacked.
But the attack didn't hit the underground fuel tanks, he said, giving it a chance to restart somewhere else.
“We remain strong and resilient,” he said as he managed crews moving debris and mixing cement. He hoped the gas station would reopen within a month.
Mr. Mokared, who ran an eyeglasses business, was not so lucky.
When he and his family returned to the market, they discovered they had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. My glasses, glasses repair kit, and gold cleaning equipment were broken. Of the 1,200 watches in the store, just over 100 were recovered. His home was also hit by the strike and he is currently staying in a one-bedroom guest house.
Despite the overwhelming distrust, there was no choice but to rebuild, he said. He and his brother plan to rent another store and restart their eyewear business on a smaller scale.
“Life must go on,” he said, pale and drawn. “If you stop, it means you die.”
