Hussein Mallah left early Wednesday morning for the southern suburbs of Beirut, just like tens of thousands of other displaced people in Lebanon.
The two-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah had just come to an end with the start of the truce. Mallah claims that he started fixing his house and company “almost immediately.”
On Friday, with his voice brimming with triumph and his chest expanding, Mallah declared, “My 24/7 bakery is going to be open for business tonight.” Five workers were refinishing the counters at the storefront behind him, all dressed in the bakery’s red and white uniform.
A ceasefire that was growing more tense was in its third day. Lebanese residents of the southernmost communities in the country were recently ordered by the Israeli military to avoid going back to their homes.
