Tyre waits for peace after new Israel-Hezbollah truce

Tyre residents – In Lebanon’s coastal city of Tyre, residents are living in a fragile calm after weeks of Israeli airstrikes, even as a new Israel–Hezbollah ceasefire takes effect. With thousands killed, hospitals damaged, historic sites hit, and fishermen fearful to sail, peo

TYRE, Lebanon — The dust in Tyre has barely settled, yet the city feels like it’s holding its breath.

During weeks of Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast, the ancient streets of Tyre were pounded into devastation. Although a new ceasefire between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group is in effect. life remains largely at a standstill. and residents say previous ceasefires have broken down.

Nearly everyone here lives with the same question: when the fighting pauses, what does that pause actually mean for them?

Over 4. 000 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began in March—two days after the Iran war began—when Hezbollah fired at Israel. The fighting has also included clashes with Israeli troops making their deepest incursion into southern Lebanon in over a quarter century.

Large swaths of southern Lebanon have been left in ruins, including Tyre.

“Where is this truce?”

In Tyre’s summer months, the fourth largest city in Lebanon is usually crowded with tourists lounging on beaches, walking through Roman ruins, eating seafood at restaurants, and riding boat tours.

Now, tables at the few restaurants that haven’t closed sit empty. Parking lots that would normally be full of beachgoers’ vehicles are instead filled with displaced people living in tents. Fishermen and mariners say they can’t sail far from port for fear of being targeted.

Ali Bazzi, 31, lives alone on a tour boat that belongs to family friends. His home in Toura, several kilometers away, was destroyed by an Israeli strike.

“Every day they tell us there’s a truce or ceasefire. Where is this truce? We can’t see it,” he said.

Bazzi does not dare return until he sees what he believes could be long-term calm. For months, he has been sleeping on a mattress on the deck and selling sandwiches at a small stand near the water to earn money.

In early June, Israel warned the entirety of Tyre to leave before it launched intense airstrikes across the city, saying it was targeting Hezbollah. Bazzi stayed anyway.

He described the city after the strikes began—emptied and ghostly—and recalled women and children crying as Israeli strikes hit. One night, he said he woke to the sound of a drone hovering over the port, and worried it had come for him.

Even as the new ceasefire appears to be holding in pockets, Tyre residents still pause anxiously when they hear Israeli jets overhead.

Ancient heritage and environment under threat

The damage in Tyre is visible in nearly every direction. It appears at least one building has been reduced to rubble on every street. Other structures remain standing, but with several floors blown off.

On the ruins, pictures of those killed—among them paramedics, families, and Hezbollah militants—are posted as memorials on buildings and on the dashboards of parked cars.

Tyre’s heritage sites are not unscathed. Several buildings next to the remains of a 2nd century citadel were struck. Debris knocked the crowns off some Roman columns and damaged stones on the Roman road that have existed for thousands of years. Employees are hoping the damage to the UNESCO World Heritage site can be repaired.

“We’re waiting for a committee to come and inspect it,” said Adnan Istanbuli, an employee at the Lebanese Directorate General of Antiquities. “The city of Tyre is 5,000 years old, and what happened to it is huge.”

Just south of the city, the shoreline in Mansouri—known as a wildlife preserve for sea turtles and other animals—has become inaccessible after Israeli strikes. Mona Khalil, a well-known environmentalist who lived along that shore, died Friday from her wounds weeks after a strike hit her home.

Hospitals no longer feel safe

Even medical care has become part of the fear.

One of Tyre’s largest hospitals is repairing some of its units destroyed when an Israeli airstrike struck a building across the street. Doctors at Jabal Amel Hospital said they have lived through multiple wars over the past few decades, but this one feels different.

In the past, they said they felt relatively safe if they stayed in the hospital. This time, the Israeli strikes occurred nearby and without warning.

Doors and windows were blown off. Staff rushed to treat wounded patients and colleagues, and thick smoke filled the hospital.

“We used to be scared, but we’re a lot more scared now,” said intensive care unit nurse Khadeeja Yousef, whose unit overlooks the hospital parking lot, now reduced to rubble and charred cars.

Cardiologist Mohammad Nassar’s private clinic across the street was hit too. Now he rummages through the debris, looking for hundreds of books he collected over more than three decades.

“I don’t care about any heart monitoring machines or anything else, but the books are dear to my heart,” he said.

Uncertainty even as talks continue

For residents of Tyre, long-term stability remains out of reach as negotiations continue between Israel and Lebanon in Washington. Hezbollah is not playing a role in those talks and is resisting efforts to disarm it.

Large swaths of land just south of the city are under Israeli control, stretching to the United Nations-mandated Blue Line that separates the countries. In recent days, smoke from distant Israeli artillery fire was visible from Tyre’s shoreline.

And on a distant hilltop, an Israeli flag could be seen.

Even with the ceasefire in effect, the city’s residents are left to measure peace by something they cannot yet trust: silence that holds, and a truce that lasts.

Tyre Lebanon Israel Hezbollah ceasefire Gaza? no UNESCO Roman ruins Jabal Amel Hospital displaced people Ali Bazzi Mona Khalil Blue Line Switzerland talks