Lebanon: Residents of southern Lebanon struggle to survive in towns reduced to rubble.

Shotlist Qlaileh, Lebanon - Recent 1. Various of destroyed town, border area 2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Toufik Mohsin, board member, Qlaileh Municipality (starting with shot 1/partially overlaid with shots 3-4): "Qlaileh used to be called the bride of the coast. Currently it's literally afflicted. The basic necessities of life are nonexistent. There is no water, no electricity, no services, and the houses, as you see, entire neighborhoods, are destroyed. About 40 percent of the town is totally destroyed, the rest is damaged, and those buildings standing are inhabitable; they are near collapse." SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE 3. Destroyed buildings, destroyed cars 4. Mohsin making phone call standing on rubble SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE 5. Various of Mohsin speaking with resident Maisara Hemeida 6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Maisara Hemeida, resident (partially overlaid with shot 7): "This house is more than 100 years old; I store cattle feed in it. The one next to it was a four-story building. And the one over there is also ours, all of them gone. I have a farm in the valley. It too got bombed along with the butchery. About 80 solar panels were destroyed. What matters most is that I am OK. My income goes and comes, money goes and comes, but a soul goes and doesn't come back." SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE 7. Various of people clearing rubble from destroyed building SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE 8. Resident Ali Amer speaking with reporter 9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ali Amer, resident (starting with shot 8/partially overlaid with shot 10): "A projectile went through my ceiling. I thank God for that. I am better off than the others; their entire houses are flattened. This is our land; we won't go anywhere. I am sad. Anyone who comes here suddenly sees the changes inflicted upon their town. It's a very tough situation. Everything is sad, you lose people, you lose everything." SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE 10. Various destroyed buildings, destroyed cars SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE 11. Various of rubble Storyline Destruction in southern Lebanon has made living conditions unbearable for residents of the so-called buffer zone along the Israel-Lebanon border, where Israeli bombardment and ground operations have reduced dozens of towns and villages to rubble. A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, announced last week, has made some of those towns accessible for the first time since they were evacuated several months earlier, revealing the scale of destruction across an area now largely uninhabitable. In Qlaileh, one of the towns in the buffer zone and home to some 5,000 people, few buildings remain standing and intact. The rest have been completely or partially destroyed. "Qlaileh used to be called the bride of the coast. Currently it's literally afflicted. The basic necessities of life are nonexistent. There is no water, no electricity, no services, and the houses, as you see, entire neighborhoods, are destroyed. About 40 percent of the town is totally destroyed, the rest is damaged, and those buildings standing are inhabitable; they are near collapse," said Toufik Mohsin, a board member of Qlaileh Municipality. Mohsin spoke to residents including Maisara Hemeida, whose destroyed property has left rubble blocking an entire street the municipality is now working to clear. For Hemeida, the losses go far beyond one home, extending to family properties, farmland and businesses that supported his livelihood for generations. "This house is more than 100 years old; I store cattle feed in it. The one next to it was a four-story building. And the one over there is also ours, all of them gone. I have a farm in the valley. It too got bombed along with the butchery. About 80 solar panels were destroyed. What matters most is that I am OK. My income goes and comes, money goes and comes, but a soul goes and doesn't come back," said Hemeida. "A projectile went through my ceiling. I thank God for that. I am better off than the others; their entire houses are flattened. This is our land; we won't go anywhere. I am sad. Anyone who comes here suddenly sees the changes inflicted upon their town. It's a very tough situation. Everything is sad, you lose people, you lose everything," said Ali Amer, another resident. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]