Displaced families in Southern Lebanon are burying relatives who died in the war in temporary graves before they can return home. New graves opened in a cemetery in Haret Saida reveal that the conflict has displaced not only lives but also funeral traditions.
In the Haret Saida cemetery along the coast of Sidon, numerous temporary graves have been dug above the regular cemetery area. Some graves are surrounded by concrete blocks, while some coffins are made from construction boards.
Among those buried here are Hezbollah members killed in Israeli attacks. Ghada Hussein waited by the grave holding photos of her son Mohammed Tufayli, who died in an Israeli strike. Hussein said her son had married this year and explained that her family has not been able to return to their border village of Kfar Tibnit.
Hussein said she tried to take her son with her, but he refused to leave the village. The mother noted that their village was destroyed and expressed hope that her son would one day return and that she would visit him morning and evening.
According to Lebanese officials, since the last war began on March 2 with Hezbollah’s rocket attack showing support for Iran, more than 3,700 people have died in Israeli strikes. Hezbollah says this number includes its own fighters.
The ceasefire announced in April did not stop the fighting. While Israel continues its attacks on Southern Lebanon, Hezbollah has declared attacks against Israeli occupying forces.
Lebanese officials say more than one million people have been displaced due to the war. The same officials accuse Israeli soldiers of destroying towns and villages along the border line.
Many temporary graves in the cemetery use handwritten signs instead of tombstones. These signs include the name of the deceased and the burial date. The Quran was recited at one grave, and some graves were decorated with flowers and plants.
Shia Muslim traditions allow temporary burial when proper funerals cannot be held or when the body cannot be transported to the desired location. The fact that Haret Saida is a predominantly Shia area has made this practice more common here.
Hassan Saleh, responsible for burial affairs at the cemetery, said the temporary section was first established during the previous Israel-Hezbollah conflict that began in 2023. According to him, after the ceasefire in November 2024, some families still could not bury their relatives in border villages; the problem worsened when the war resumed this year.
Saleh said about 120 people have been temporarily buried since March, and new graves continue to be dug. He noted that among those temporarily buried are first aid teams and unarmed civilians who died at home. When families come in groups, each person is placed in a separate coffin and buried in the same area.
Similar temporary burial sites have reportedly been established around Sayda in the south and the southern suburbs of Beirut. In Haret Saida, during a funeral, a coffin draped with a yellow Hezbollah flag was carried on shoulders amid women’s cries.
A coffin bearing the image of a fighter named Hassan Ali Kallas was taken to a temporary grave in the upper part of the cemetery. A relative, Bassem Yassine, said that aircraft in the area prevent families from returning to their village, so the burial was done here instead of Nabatiye el-Favka. Yassine said being buried in the cemetery was better than waiting in the morgue.
