Life in the Ghost Town of Tyre
Sulayman Jawad is busy making wooden cabinets and tables. A proud carpenter, he sits in his workshop carefully crafting away.
It is hard to believe that he is living in the city of Tyre which has come under heavy bombardment from Israel. The town is virtually deserted. Out of an original population of around 80,000 only a few thousand remain.
Those who had the means to leave have left. Those who have no transport or nowhere to go have stayed behind. Others, like forty-year-old Sulayman, simply refused to run.
“People are scared and everyone is going to their relatives outside the town. Most of my family have left but I’m not going to move because this is my town and I want to die here and not outside. I want to help the people and children.”
Streets of Fear
Tyre is only 50 km distance from the Israeli border and its streets are now littered by craters and bombed buildings.
“Before the bombing the town was normal and people from outside would come here but now everyone has left. It’s like a ghost town.
“I was not scared when the bombing happened but I tried to help people who were injured,” he said.
Islamic Relief is working with a local partner to distribute food to families who have remained in Tyre.
“The market is closed and I have to go and get food from where it is being distributed. It’s a bad situation – it is war and nobody knows what the future will be. Most of the children have left the city,” Sulayman said.
People living further south, however, have come to seek refuge in Tyre.
Seeking Safety
Eight year-old Hasan Ar-Rai fled with his family from the southern coastal village of Ra’s al-Ain. He and his parents are now living with relatives in Tyre, in a house filled with 25 people.
His mother Muzayyah, 35, says that she had no choice but to flee from their village.
“The Israelis bombed our village – we came for safety. There is nobody in our village now - they have all left.”
Hasan’s father Mustafa, 42, is a farmer and is determined to return to Ra’s al-Ain.
“I want to go back to my village. The children ask to go back everyday but they are also scared.”
Despite the fear and uncertainty in his life right now, Hassan remains hopeful about his future. “I want to become an architect and build buildings again. I want to go back to school and see my friends.”
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