On a mountain slope in south Lebanon, agricultural employee Assaad al-Taqi is busy selecting olives, undeterred by the roar of Israeli warplanes overhead.
This yr, he’s amassing the harvest towards the backdrop of the raging Israel-Hezbollah struggle.
He works within the village of Kfeir, only a few kilometres (miles) from the place Israeli bombardment has devastated a lot of south Lebanon since Israel escalated its marketing campaign towards Iran-backed Hezbollah in September.
“However I am not afraid of the shelling,” Taqi mentioned, as he and different staff hit the tree branches with sticks, sending showers of olives tumbling down into jute luggage.
“Our presence right here is an act of defiance,” the 51-year-old mentioned, but additionally noting that the olive “is the tree of peace”.
Kfeir is 9 kilometres (six miles) from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, within the blended Christian and Druze district of Hasbaya, which has largely been spared the violence that has wracked close by Hezbollah strongholds.
However even Hasbaya’s relative tranquillity was shattered final month when three journalists had been killed in an Israeli strike on a fancy the place they had been sleeping.
Israel and Hezbollah had beforehand exchanged cross-border hearth for nearly a yr over the Gaza battle.
– $58 mln in losses –
The employees in Kfeir relaxation within the shade of the olive bushes, some 900 metres (3,000 toes) above sea stage on the slopes of Mount Hermon, which overlooks an space the place Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli-held territory meet.
They’ve been toiling in relative peace since daybreak, interrupted solely by sonic booms from Israeli jets breaking the sound barrier and the sight of smoke rising on the horizon from strikes on a south Lebanon border village.
Hassna Hammad, 48, who was amongst these selecting olives, mentioned the agricultural work was her livelihood.
“We aren’t afraid, we’re used to it,” she mentioned of the struggle.
However “we’re afraid for our brothers impacted by the battle”, she added, referring to the a whole bunch of 1000’s of Lebanese displaced by the combating.
Elsewhere in south Lebanon, olive bushes are bulging with fruit that no one will decide, after villagers fled Israeli bombardment and the following floor operation that started on September 30.
A World Financial institution report this month mentioned that “the disruption of the olive harvest brought on by bombing and displacement is predicted to result in $58 million in losses” in Lebanon.
It mentioned 12 % of olive groves within the conflict-affected areas it assessed had been destroyed.
Usually, the olive-picking season is extremely anticipated in Lebanon, and a few folks return annually to their native villages and fields only for the harvest.
“Not everybody has the braveness to return” this time, mentioned Salim Kassab, who owns a standard press the place villagers carry their olives to extract the oil.
“Many individuals are absent… They despatched staff to interchange them,” mentioned Kassab, 50.
– ‘Love the olive month’ –
“There’s concern of the struggle after all,” he mentioned, including that he had come alone this yr, with out his spouse and youngsters.
Kassab mentioned that earlier than the battle, he used to journey to the southern cities of Nabatiyeh and Sidon if he wanted to repair his machines, however such journeys are close to unimaginable now due to the hazard.
The World Financial institution report estimated that 12 months of agriculture sector losses have value Lebanon $1.1 billion, in a rustic already going by means of a gruelling five-year financial disaster earlier than the combating erupted.
Areas close to the southern border have sustained “probably the most vital injury and losses”, the report mentioned.
It cited “the burning and abandonment of enormous areas of agricultural land” in each south and east Lebanon, “together with misplaced harvests as a result of displacement of farmers”.
Elsewhere in Kfeir, Inaam Abu Rizk, 77, and her husband had been busy washing olives they plan to both press for oil or jar to be served all through the winter.
Abu Rizk has taken half within the olive harvest for many years, a part of a practice handed down the generations, and mentioned that regardless of the struggle, this yr was no totally different.
“In fact we’re afraid… there may be the sound of planes and bombing,” she mentioned.
However “we love the olive month — we’re farmers and the land is our work”.
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