During the continuous Israeli assaults on southern Lebanon since 2023, Ahmad Ghossein’s father refused to leave his home near the border despite his son’s pleas.
He simply did not want to leave his house, the birds, the cats, or the beekeeping that had become his obsession and specialty.
He replies to Ahmed’s repeated messages urging him to return to Beirut often seemed irrational. He would send photos, videos, and voice notes of sunrises, of chickens, cats, and flowers as if the small life around him was his way of holding the world in place. The videos were shaky and spontaneous, always accompanied by the sound of his heavy breathing in the background. Sometimes, he would narrate what was happening, assuming the role of the storyteller of his life in southern Lebanon.
As the war intensified, the messages changed. He began recording the terrifying stillness of night, while distant rockets cutting through the darkness appeared in the footage. He also left a long voice message explaining how a beehive had died from the drones’ continuous buzzing.
In 2026, Israel destroyed the village entirely, using approximately 450 tons of explosives.