Tyre (Lebanon) (AFP) – Heavy equipment operator Bassam Khalil's bulldozers and excavators are in high demand in south Lebanon's Tyre these days, as the seaside city tries to pick up the pieces from the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.
Residents of destroyed buildings are anxious to comb through the rubble in search of their belongings, the 45-year-old told AFP, next to a pile of shattered concrete and mangled metal that was once a multi-storey apartment block, brought down by an Israeli strike last month.But often, after they start, "they realise there is nothing left to find", he added, sweating in the dust and summer heat.Heavy Israeli airstrikes targeted Tyre, one of south Lebanon's largest cities, after Hezbollah dragged the country into the Middle East war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.Piles of rubble and streets strewn with debris dot several mainly seaside neighbourhoods.Using a bulldozer, Khalil cleared rubble blocking the road to a company's warehouse, near buildings scarred by strikes.According to the Tyre municipality, the attacks killed around 60 people, destroyed 26 buildings and damaged about 1,000 homes in the city. Tens of thousands of residents fled after Israel's army warned the entire city to evacuate this month ahead of air raids targeting Hezbollah.Authorities say more than two-thirds of residents have returned since last week's US-Iran deal to end the wider regional war and the lull in fighting in Lebanon that began over the weekend. 'Like the phoenix'Hussein Hassan, 40, fled north with his family during the war but returned this week to reopen his barbershop, even though one of its walls is cracked and its glass facade has been blown away.
