STORY: Pine nut season ruined by Israeli shelling in border town: farmer
SHOOTING TIME: May 20, 2024
DATELINE: May 22, 2024
LENGTH: 0:03:31
LOCATION: Beirut
CATEGORY: ECONOMY/SOCIETY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of pine trees on the outskirts of the border town of Kfar Hamam and pine cones
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): ABDO HASSAN KHALIFEH, Resident of the border town of Kfar Hamam

STORYLINE:

Abdo Hassan Khalifeh, a pine nut farmer in the Lebanese border town of Kfar Hamam, has had his harvest season destroyed by the continuous Israeli shelling.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic): ABDO HASSAN KHALIFEH, Resident of the border town of Kfar Hamam
"The pine cones dropped from the trees, and even if there is a truce, it will not save our season. It is over.
This forest you can see, all the pine trees are being hit and broken, and we have not been able to harvest the pine because of the Israeli aggression since July of last year and before the Al Aqsa Flood operation. The main target of the Israeli shelling and air raids was the forests of Kfar Hamam. I could not enter the forest to harvest the pine, and that is why the pine cones are falling from the trees.
The Israeli shelling is preventing us from entering the forest, and now they are doing air raids over the forest as well. You can see, this is an example of the Israeli shelling. The pine trees are all burnt and broken. In an area of 300 square meters, there are more than 50 pine trees that have been uprooted. Take a look at the Israeli posts. They can see every movement in the forest, and when they spot anything, they start shelling."

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on Oct. 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas' attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beirut.
(XHTV)