'Exile is exile': Displaced Lebanese voice lingering fears of war

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00Behind every forced displacement in Beirut is a story of survival.

00:05When the Israeli strikes began last year,

00:07Fadi and his family had to flee their home urgently and abandon their lives.

00:13We're talking about a displacement of only six kilometers, but it's still an exile.

00:17Exile is exile, no matter the distance.

00:23Before we were able to sleep peacefully,

00:25but now my children wake up after dreaming of explosions.

00:29The war is over, but the psychological effects remain.

00:32My son asks me, why is Israel attacking us?

00:38Abu Fadi provided a safe place for his relatives.

00:42He's clinging to the hope of a peaceful future,

00:45trusting that Lebanon is starting to pull out of a long-running political crisis

00:49now the country finally has a president after a two-year vacancy.

00:55We're staying optimistic.

00:57We have a president again. That's light in the darkness.

01:04During the strikes, other people tried to provide that light.

01:08In Beirut's Shemezeh neighborhood, Nabil turned his home into a temporary refuge.

01:13It exploded with telephone calls. They needed places to stay.

01:16It was a privilege to help people.

01:19When the ceasefire was agreed, they went back again to the south.

01:23We call each other, we ask how we are.

01:25They check up on me, I check up on them.

01:28Back with the family, six-year-old Mortada has a dream for the future.

01:32But I want to live in another place where there is a greenhouse.

01:41Returning home remains just a dream for many of the

01:43one million people across Lebanon displaced by the conflict.

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