'We will rebuild better': Nabatieh’s devastated commercial heart is eager to beat again

Residents of the Lebanese city are returning to start the long reconstruction process

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The day after the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Wafic Jaber returned to rebuild his cake shops in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh that had borne the brunt of Israeli air strikes.

He had no expectations of support – financial or otherwise – from the cash-strapped Lebanese state or from any NGO or political group as he rushed back and immediately began clearing the debris.

“State services are weak or non-existent, and we're not expecting much,” he said with an impatient smile, as one of his acquantainces swept up shards of glass. “We couldn’t wait for the government to act. As businessmen we don’t have time, we have to start rebuilding now. You should come back in two days, when everything is repaired and customers are back.”

Mr Jaber has already ordered glass to replace the windows shattered by repeated explosions. His losses, he estimates, run into a couple of million dollars. Four of six shop branches have been damaged or destroyed, as well as his factory. But he remains optimistic.

“It’s an opportunity to rebuild, and do it better,” he said.

Israel's massive air campaign, which started on September 23 when it turned a month-long border conflict with Hezbollah into a full-scale war, has devastated most of Lebanon’s Shiite heartlands, where the Lebanese group holds sway.

For more than two months, Nabatieh was almost deserted, its residents forced to flee intense Israeli bombing. But now, cars are streaming into the city, navigating roads lined with collapsed buildings and charred vehicles, as people return to their homes.

The devastation they find is staggering. The strikes have targeted essential infrastructure. The municipal building was reduced to wreckage in a direct hit, killing 11 of its members, including the mayor.

Driving along the rubble-strewn main commercial street, it is easy to see that the economic heart of the city has been hardest hit. Shops, restaurants and pharmacies have all been reduced to rubble. Shop signs, their steel twisted by the force of blasts, are scattered across the street. Electricity and water remain cut.

Long process

Standing in front of what is left of his pharmacy, Hassan Baalbaki assessed the damage.

“Who’s going to compensate for this?” he wondered. Mr Baalbaki estimates he has lost at least $500,000 worth of goods. No one from the government has checked on him. “Not even a hello,” he said.

Throughout Lebanon’s many crises, its citizens have become accustomed to relying on private initiatives to fill the gaps left by the lack of state services. Mr Baalbaki said he would find a way to pay for the damage. “I’ve made the decision – I’m staying. It’s settled in my mind. The rest we will figure out,” he said.

Despite residents' eagerness to return, rebuilding will take time, local officials said, especially because key institutions have been destroyed.

“The damage is much worse than in 2006,” said Ali Fakih, site supervisor with the Ministry of Transport, referring to the last war between Israel and Hezbollah. A dozen diggers have been deployed in Nabatieh. Mr Fakih said it will take days just to clear the roads, adding that unexploded devices, possibly hidden in the rubble, present another major challenge to the clean-up effort.

Hussein Jaber, an architect and member of the municipal council, said the reconstruction will take a “long time”. The precise damage assessment has yet to be completed. “We’re not even done clearing up yet. The destruction is massive – there isn’t a single building in Nabatieh that’s habitable right now,” he said.

The local authority's efforts have been severely hampered because many of its employees were killed in the strike on its building.

“We don’t even have a building left. Everything is gone: our pickups, the money in our vaults, all our equipment,” said Mr Jaber. The municipal council is set to meet on Saturday to elect a new mayor, he added.

“A comprehensive reconstruction plan will need to be put in place” he said, including rebuilding infrastructure and restoring water and electricity. “But that will have to happen at the state level.”

With the municipality in ruins, there is little it can do, he added.