Ahmad Mustafa’s hands are trembling. Standing in the course of an olive grove within the village of Kfarmelki, he holds out a row of his own disfigured fingers – memories from a cluster bomb that tore through his body after the 2006 Lebanon War.
‘During my recovery in hospital, I heard about lots of accidents happening,’ he tells Metro, just metres away from where a big ‘demining site’ sign has been propped up in the bottom.
‘Many children were maimed or killed by cluster munitions. So this was my motivation to recover and to return on the bottom.’
Now, nearly twenty years later, he continues to be in the sector, combing through earth and rubble for a similar form of explosive that just about killed him on the age of 21.
The work of individuals like Ahmad, a field operations manager with the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a UK-based charity, is now more vital than ever as around 1 million displaced people return to their homes after the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
‘This is simply 5% of what was destroyed’
MAG’s task is way from easy, as Metro learns after joining deminers in the sector in southern Lebanon where Israel’s aerial bombardments still shape people’s lives every day.
Because the automotive drives through the centre of Nabatieh, the toughest hit major city within the south, mountains of pulverised concrete and twisted rods of metal mark where homes once stood.
‘This is simply 5% of what was destroyed,’ says Ali Shuaib, community liaison manager for MAG, as he gestures at a crater on the side of the road.
At the positioning in Kfarmelki, around 15 miles from the Israeli border, deminers have been meticulously clearing the land since March.
Throughout the war, the village was shelled many times – 20 buildings were incinerated. Nine people, including a young girl, were killed within the attacks.
Alongside homes, shops and a mosque, an Israeli airstrike tore through a Hezbollah ammunition depot as well, sending cluster munitions [a type of weapon that releases submunitions] hurtling across olive groves.
Around 75,000 square metres later, MAG has uncovered and destroyed 180 bomblets, allowing residents to return safely to their houses and crops.
After a decade of digging up unexploded ordnance (UXOs) with the charity, deminer Joumana Semaan has tricked her brain to assimilate the sound of explosions as a positive one.
Taking a pause from the gruelling task of detecting explosives, the mother-of-one rigorously adjusts her grip on the metal detector and tells me: ‘It’s a really satisfying feeling to search out unexploded ordnance.
‘After I hear the demolition sound [afterwards], I do know I even have saved a life – not even on this community, but possibly the lifetime of a member of the family of mine.
‘In a way, it’s a positive explosion because we’re eliminating an enemy that we cannot see.’
Like most individuals in southern Lebanon, Joumana was displaced in the course of the war that got here to a stop – kind of – in November 2024, and her family home was damaged.
In Kfarmelki, life appears to have fought its way back in as around 90% of the residents have returned, and efforts to rebuild are well underway. Or at the least, so it seems.
Mohamad Sewan, the self-declared ‘best baker’ within the village, is pulling hot manakish – a Lebanese flatbread – from the oven to serve customers, only just a few months after being displaced himself.
He fled to a different village near the town of Saida, but travelled every two to 3 days to envision on his bakery.
‘Alhamdullilah, nothing was damaged,’ he confirms. ‘For now, we feel secure [because of MAG], but there continues to be lots of stress and tension within the village.’
Restaurants have also opened their shutters and classrooms are crammed with children again, after most needed to learn online in the course of the war.
‘We fled just quarter-hour before the attack’
After returning to her home in Kfarmelki, Farah Mahhmoud is defiant in her resolve to rebuild. A golden ring now sparkles on her left hand.
Engaged on the age of 20, her eyes are vibrant with a relaxed form of certainty.
Before the war, she had planned to review law. Currently, she is pursuing her real passion – a beauty business together with her sister.
Sitting on the balcony of her house, her laughter getting partially drowned out by the motorbikes outside, Farah tells me: ‘On the primary day of the war, our home was damaged. Thankfully, we weren’t inside.
‘We had fled just quarter-hour before. Neighbours called and told us. Lots of houses within the village were also hit. We lost many individuals. Our life will not be prefer it was before. We used to exit, travel to the south; but now we’re afraid.
‘We’re at all times stressed since the situation stays unstable. The very first thing I thought of after the neighbourhood was hit was my aunt.
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‘The home that was entirely destroyed was facing hers. She was wounded, but survived. So was my cousin.
‘Throughout the war, all I could take into consideration was whether my family’s home was still standing or if it was damaged, and if the land was contaminated.’
Israel’s deadly ceasefire violations proceed
To today, Israel continues to hit buildings and vehicles across southern Lebanon and most recently Beirut, alleging that it’s targeting Hezbollah members and sites.
Just before the journey to Kfarmelki, MAG staff had identified an Israeli drone buzzing overhead within the town of Deir El Zahrani, within the Nabatieh district, all a part of the psychological warfare that residents are forced to endure.
Back of their office, programme officer Mariam Gharib’s mobile vibrates. All color has drained from her face, but she keeps her composure.
Turning the screen of her phone towards me, she shows me an image of a burning automotive, with smoke curling towards the sky – an Israeli attack several miles away, and metres from her son’s school. The moment hangs heavy.
First of many assassinations on ‘Hezbollah members’ in months
That is the primary of dozens of assassinations of alleged Hezbollah members that may ripple across Lebanon within the weeks to return after.
It’s a reminder that MAG staff will not be outsiders to the war’s toll, but are survivors as a substitute. Many fled their homes, lost relatives, or returned to search out only rubble.
Still clutching her phone, Mariam, who joined the charity 12 years ago, tells me: ‘When the war began, I used to be at home within the south. We had just come down from the mountains considering that things were calm.
‘Suddenly, every thing exploded. We didn’t even remove our clothes from the baggage before we needed to flee again. Our neighborhood was hit – about 50 to 100 meters from our house.
‘A Syrian family who lived nearby was killed – seven people, including their children. They were packing to go away. The driving force who was waiting for them was also killed.’
Sitting opposite Mariam – behind a large desk – is Hiba Ghandour, MAG’s programme manager.
Putting together her savings, she had already rented a second house within the mountains and welcomed Mariam and her relatives, giving them a refuge.
Each women are born and raised in Lebanon, and have ‘lived through many wars’, and at the moment are sure by joint loss and endurance.
A yr has past since Hiba’s home was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike – exactly 4 days after the family fled.
She says: ‘We left in the course of the war, and sadly, we heard the news that there was bombing in that area.
‘For some reason, we never believed that it may very well be ours. When my son saw the photo, he said, “Our house is okay, look, the TV continues to be on the wall.”‘
It was only recently that Hiba could actually bring herself to go to her home, now nothing greater than a damage.
Outside, two unexploded missiles were lodged within the rubble – the identical weapons that MAG spends days mapping and clearing had found their approach to her doorstep.
Making a pause to reflect on the importance of her job, Hiba then says: ‘We’ve heard about accidents. A really close neighbour of mine who was a child was a victim of a mine explosion.
‘It impacts you, it really hurts you… So it will be significant now to have people on the bottom, at the least to get the space secure, after which we are able to take into consideration recovery and rebuilding.
‘It is sort of a satisfying feeling to find a way to say that we declared this area free from explosives.’
Many areas in Lebanon remain inaccessible to clear
Lebanon has been contaminated with explosive ordnance for a long time, because of this of the 1975-1990 civil war, the 2006 conflict, and repeated cross-border hostilities.
After the 2023-2024 war, almost 2 million square metres of latest hazardous land was added to the previously recorded 24 million square metres.
The figures barely reflect the actual impact as a significant slice of the affected areas, particularly along the Blue Line – the demarcation line that divides Lebanon from Israel and the Golan Heights – stays inaccessible.
Despite repeated Israeli violations of the ceasefire with Hezbollah, Lebanon stays off the Global Mine Motion Programme’s (GMAP) priority list after being removed in 2021.
This has led to a ‘monumental’ loss in funding for MAG, particularly from the UK.
After the ceasefire, the UK provided a ‘life-saving’ injection of money that has kept the organisation afloat, however the goal is to bring the country back to the GMAP priority list.
Until then, the sound of explosions continues to reverberate across south Lebanon, greater than a month after MAG has accomplished its clearance operation in Kfarmelki.
Like Joumana notes, some are ‘positive ones’; others, from Israeli jets and drones, send people fleeing their homes, yet again, seeking whatever safety there may be left in Lebanon.
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