Fear and defiance in Lebanon as the threat of new war opens old wounds

Safaa Ali Fayad, who was displaced from south Lebanon, waits in a classroom where she is living with her husband and three children. The school has been converted into a shelter amid fears the Israel-Hamas war will spill into Lebanon. Photograph: Manu Brabo/Getty Images

The three women sat in the darkened living room. The electricity had cut out and there was a problem with the neighbourhood generator. On a low table between them was a large rakwe coffee pot, small cups and an ashtray brimming with cigarettes butts.

Lubban* poured the black coffee into the cups of her elderly mother and their visiting friend. Their flat is above a noisy restaurant.