Built in 1874, the hotel once hosted famous guests such as former French President Charles de Gaulle and American singer Nina Simone.

Facing a large archaeological complex encompassing the ruins of an ancient Roman city, Palmyra has kept its gates open through many conflicts and years of economic collapse.

“This hotel has not closed its doors for 150 years,” said Salika, adding that it hosted its guests at the height of the 1975-1990 civil war in Lebanon and during Israel’s last war with Hezbollah in 2006.

The 45-year-old man has spent more than half his life there and says he won’t give it up now.

“I’m very attached to this place,” he said, adding that the hotel’s vast, deserted halls left “a big pang in my heart.”

He spends his days dusting rotting furniture and antique mirrors. He cleans the glass shards from the windows that were broken as a result of the crash.

Known as the ‘City of the Sun’ in ancient times, Baalbek is home to one of the world’s largest complexes of Roman temples, designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

But the recent Israel-Hezbollah war has cast a shadow over the eastern city, which was home to an estimated 250,000 people before the war.

Life is at a standstill

After a year of cross-border clashes with Hezbollah, Israel has stepped up attacks on the group’s strongholds, including part of Baalbek, last month.

Local officials say only 40 percent of Baalbek residents remain in the city, and they are mostly squeezed into the city’s few Sunni-majority areas.

On October 6, Israeli strikes fell hundreds of feet (meters) from the Roman columns that brought tourists into the city and the Palmyra hotel.

UNESCO told AFP it was “closely monitoring the impact of the ongoing crisis in Lebanon on cultural heritage sites.”

More than a month has passed since the war, and a handful of Baalbek’s shops remained open, albeit briefly.

“The market is almost always closed. It opens for an hour a day, sometimes not at all,” said Baalbek mayor Mustafa al-Shall.

Residents shop for food quickly in the morning and rarely go out after sunset.

“They are trying not to linger on the streets for fear that an air strike could occur at any moment,” he said.

Last year, nearly 70,000 tourists and 100,000 Lebanese visited Baalbek. But the city has only attracted five percent of those numbers so far this year, the mayor said.

Even before the war, local governments in Baalbek were struggling to provide public services due to the five-year economic crisis.

Municipal workers now work mainly to clear debris from the streets and provide assistance to shelters housing displaced people.

Shall said that the Baalbek hospital was decommissioned as a result of a recent Israeli attack, leaving only five facilities fully operational.

‘Nobody’

Baalbek resident Hussein al-Jamal said the war turned his life upside down.

“The streets were full of life, the castle was welcoming visitors, restaurants were open and markets were crowded,” the 37-year-old social worker said. he said.

“There’s no one there now.”

His young children and wife fled the fighting, but he said it was his duty to stay behind and help those in need.

“I work in the humanitarian field, I can’t go even if everyone else leaves,” he said.

He said only four houses in his neighborhood are still inhabited mostly by vulnerable elderly people.

“I visit them every morning to see what they need,” he said, but “it’s hard being away from your family.”

Rasha al-Rifai, 45, provides psychological support to women experiencing gender-based violence.

However, he has lost contact with many people since the month the war began.

“Before the war, we didn’t worry about anything,” said Rifai, who lives with his elderly parents.

“Everything has changed now, we work remotely, we don’t see anyone, most of the people I know have left.”

“We were displaced many times during the 2006 war, it was a very difficult experience, we don’t want this to happen again,” he said.

“We’ll stay here as long as the rest is bearable.”

© 2024 AFP