South Lebanon Through One Family’s Eyes
For many Lebanese, May 25 is celebrated as Liberation Day, marking Israel’s withdrawal from South Lebanon and the start of a new chapter for the country. For many families from the South of Lebanon, however, that day carries a different meaning. Recently, MTV Lebanon aired an episode of Beirut Today discussing South Lebanon, the 2000 Israeli withdrawal, Hezbollah’s control in the region, and the long-term impact on families who lived through that period. Among the guests was Amer Foundation President Guila Fakhoury, who shared our family’s personal story and reflected on what life was like growing up in the region. As Guila Fakhoury stated in her interview, May 25 was not a day of celebration for many families in South Lebanon. Instead, it marked Lebanon’s transition from one occupation to another, from Israeli control to Iranian control.
Guila Fakhoury recalled being only 10 years old, the eldest of our four sisters, when Hezbollah entered our town. Unlike what many assume, we did not flee to Israel but instead remained in our home in Lebanon. Yet life changed almost overnight. Armed Hezbollah members repeatedly came to our house in the middle of the night to intimidate my mother, my sisters, and me. One moment that especially stayed with Guila was when the armed men demanded to see my mother alone. Guila stepped in front of her to protect her, only to be kicked by a Hezbollah member.
A mother with four young daughters, ranging in age from 1 to 10 years old, posed no threat to anyone — yet Hezbollah members came to our home night after night.
The atmosphere in South Lebanon changed after “Liberation Day.” Prior to that day, Guila knew no distinction between a Shia Muslim and a Christian, but things changed quickly after Hezbollah took over. Fear and accusations spread throughout the South, and families like mine were labeled as “collaborators” despite having committed no crime. That label became a political weapon used to silence, intimidate, and erase the stories of those who did not fit Hezbollah’s version of history. Guila’s memories, along with those of many others from the South, challenge the simplified narratives often told about the region and serve as a reminder that real communities were divided, displaced, and traumatized by political forces beyond their control.
As Hezbollah’s intimidation tactics escalated, my family left Lebanon one night through Rafik Hariri International Airport, not through Israel. This detail is important because years later, in 2016, when my mother returned to Lebanon to renew her passport, she was detained by Lebanese General Security and told that her passport could not be renewed. Her file was then transferred to Army Intelligence in Sidon, South Lebanon, where she was forced to sign a statement falsely claiming that she had fled Lebanon through Israel. What made the situation even more disturbing was that she had traveled back to Lebanon several times before this incident without issue. Inside the interrogation room in Sidon, officials gave her two choices: either sign a false statement saying she had gone to Israel or confess to selling drugs. Otherwise, they told her, she would not be released.
As the years passed, Hezbollah’s presence in Lebanon only grew stronger. What once felt confined to our town in South Lebanon slowly became something felt across the country. Fear became part of everyday life for many families like ours. People learned to stay quiet, avoid certain conversations, and carry the weight of accusations that could follow them for years. For those labeled as “collaborators,” the stigma never truly disappeared, no matter how innocent they were. Many families were left feeling erased from their own country’s story, afraid to speak openly about what they had lived through.
Guila’s testimony on MTV Lebanon is part of a larger effort to reclaim the truth and ensure that history is not written by only one side. We are grateful to MTV Lebanon and Beirut Today for creating space for stories like Guila’s to be heard and for giving people the opportunity to speak openly about experiences that were silenced for far too long. Justice begins with listening. For the Amer Foundation, this mission is deeply personal. Amer Fakhoury’s story, and the stories of families from South Lebanon, reflect the cost of political persecution, wrongful accusation, and the failure of the Lebanese state to protect all of its citizens equally.