Martino Lombezzi

Blue Line

The July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah of was only the latest episode in a series of conflicts that have plagued this region from 1978 onwards. Today nothing seems to have changed since that hot summer. The conflict is frozen in a tense stasis. The Blue Line marks the boundary between the two countries: a line that runs up and down hills and bare and stony mountains for one hundred and twenty kilometers, in many places still undefined. The images build a relationship between very close but opposite places, on the two sides of the barrier.

The July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah of was only the latest episode in a series of conflicts that have plagued this region from 1978 onwards. Today nothing seems to have changed since that hot summer. The conflict is frozen in a tense stasis. The Blue Line marks the boundary between the two countries: a line that runs up and down hills and bare and stony mountains for one hundred and twenty kilometers, in many places still undefined. The images build a relationship between very close but opposite places, on the two sides of the barrier.

Rosh Hanikra, Israel. The Rosh Hanikra grottoes, the extreme point of Israeli territory on the sea before Lebanon.
Naqura, Lebanon. A UNIFIL tanzanian military police officer observes the coast as the ferry Carolyn, used by UNIFIL to move troops between Beirut and south Lebanon, navigates.
Masghara, Lebanon. May 25th, 2013 - Hezbollah rally to commemorate the 13th anniversary of Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. The village is hometown of Imad Mughniyah, the military commander of Hezbollah, killed in Damascus in 2008. The speech of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader, is broadcasted on a screen. He seldom appears in person in public.
Metulla, Israel. A monument to israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon in 1985 in the incident known as "Safari Disaster". Sunday, March 10, 1985, a convoy of IDF soldiers on their “Safari” model trucks were driving from Metula towards the Lebanese town of Marjayoun. On the other side a red Chevrolet pickup truck was driving towards them. The driver exploded himself and his vehicle near one of the soldier's truck. Twelve soldiers were killed and 14 wounded in the explosion.
Tel Dan, Israel. The Dan River is the biggest of four tributaries that drain into the Jordan River. The Dan’s source is Mount Hermon. The area around the sources is a popular tourist spot for Israeli families.
Sarafand, Lebanon. Lebanese Welfare Association for the Handicapped, Nabih Berri Rehabilitation Compound. Ali Mrah, aged 30, from Tyre, is a former demining operator. He lost his right leg in 2009 while clearing an area where cluster bombs where dropped by Israeli aviation during 2006 war.
Tyre, Lebanon. Buildings in the center of the city.
Deir Ames, Lebanon. A group of children, refiugees from Syria, look at the sky while an helicopter is passing by.
Maroun Al Ras, Lebanon. A scale reproduction of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, one of the most sacred places of Islam, standing in the center of the amusement park "Iran Garden", built at the extreme limit of the Blue Line, the frontier between Lebanon an Israel, overlooking Israelian territory. This site was created to host the visit of the Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad to southern Lebanon on october 2010.
Al Khiam, Lebanon. Al Khiam was an infamous israelian military prison during the years of the occupation, then it was transformed by Hezbollah in a museum. Bombed in the 2006 war, today in the middle of the ruins a small exhibition is kept open for occasional visitors. Ahmad Al Amine is 51 and during the occupation was jailed here for four years. Today he is the guardian of the museum, and he poses dressing the blackhood used by the israeli for the prisoners.
Meron, Israel. The Meron area is a important religious site for Jews as it host numerous tombs of revered rabbis, among them the most popoluar is Shimon Bar Yochai. The jewish festival of Lag Bahomer, celebrating these rabbis, is held in this area every year and gathers thousands of people from all the country, especially orthodox jews, who camp in the surrounding hills and dance and pray all night long. Orthodox jews praying near the tomb of the rabbi.
Meron, Israel. The Meron area is a important religious site for Jews as it host numerous tombs of revered rabbis, among them the most popoluar is Shimon Bar Yochai. The jewish festival of Lag Bahomer, celebrating these rabbis, is held in this area every year and gathers thousands of people from all the country, especially orthodox jews, who camp in the surrounding hills and dance and pray all night long.
Arab al-Aramshe, Israel. Three residents of Arab al-Aramshe, a Bedouin village south of the Lebanese border, look the lebanese territory from a hill near the border area. Over the years, Aramshe residents have experienced attacks by Katyusha rockets launched from Southern Lebanon by the Hezbollah. During the 2006 Lebanon War, Fadiya Juma'a (age 60) and her daughters Samira (33) and Sultana (31) were killed by a Katyusha that fell in the garden of their home on August 5
Mlita, Lebanon. "The Abyss" in Mlita museum. This site is dedicated to "the Islamic resistance in Lebanon" (the definition used by Hezbollah for its military activities) from the beginning of the israeli occupation in 1982 till the present. The site, completed in 2010, was named Mlita after the mountain it is situated on, where Hezbollah fighters were stationed throughout the years of the Israeli occupation till the withdrawal in 2000. Mlita was one of the first lines of defense and was a base for launching various operations inside the occupied security zone. The Abyss is "an assembled scenic landscape symbolizing Israelian defeat. It was composed utilizing a number of vehicles, armored vehicles, weapons of the israelian army and the South Lebanon Army army won over by Hezbollah from 1982 till the July 2006 war." A tomb with hebrew letters is built in the center of the scene, to be seen from the israeli aircrafts flying over the site.
Chamaa, Lebanon. Main barracks of the UNIFIL Italian contingent. Senior Corporal Giovanna La Rosa, sapper, dressed with demining suit
Metulla. Israel. The view from a military position of the town of Kfar Kila and the wall built along the border. The seven-meter high wall, the first of this kind along the border with Lebanon, was completed in june 2012 and it runs 1,200 meters long. It is meant to protect residents of the town from possible sniper fire or rocket attacks coming from the lebanese village of Kfar Kila, just a few meters across the border.
Mleeta, Lebanon. Mleeta is a site and museum dedicated to "the Islamic resistance in Lebanon" (the definition used by Hezbollah for its military activities).The combat position of Sayyed Abbas Moussawi, the first leader of Hezbollah, killed by the Israelian army in february 1992 in a helicopter raid along with his wife and children.
Avivim, Israel. Young residents of the moshav with their dogs.
Haifa, Israel. A group of soldiers visiting the Navy museum, standing in front of the recovered conning tower of Dakar submarine, which sunk in 1968 between Cyprus and Crete.
Nabatieh, Lebanon.The procession of a group of Shia celebrating Ashura in the center of the town. Ashura, the most important religious celebration for Shia Muslims. is a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, who died at the Battle of Karbala.
Shebaa, Lebanon. A view from the cliff near the Shebaa farms, occupied by Israel.
Al Mansouri, Lebanon. UNIFIL Italbatt compound, seat of Sector West Mobile Reserve. Soldiers look at the sea just outside the fence surrounding the base.
Haifa, Israel.A woman in paintball suit in a paintball shooting range in the outskirts of the city.
Tyre, Lebanon. A peddling cart full of oranges is left in a street of the market after closure.
Haifa, Israel. A fake Scud missile in a paintball shooting range in the outskirts of the city.
Qana, Lebanon. Puppets of children and coffins in the memorial room for the first Qana massacre of April 18, 1996. The incident took place amid heavy fighting between the Israeli Defense Forces and Hezbollah during "Operation Grapes of Wrath". That day Israeli artillery shelled a United Nations compound. Of the 800 Lebanese civilians who had taken refuge in the compound to escape the fighting, 106 were killed and around 116 injured. A United Nations military investigation later determined it was unlikely that Israeli shelling of the U.N. compound was the result of technical or procedural errors.
Rashidieh palestinian refugee camp, Lebanon. Ahmad Gadaban was born in 1942 in the village of Kuwaykat, near Akko, from a family of cattle farmers. The village was attacked by Zionist forces on july, 1948, and the inhabitants expelled. Ahmad and his family left with the cattle towards Lebanon and in two months, by foot, they arrived in Rashidieh and settled there, living in tents. The refugee camp at that time was inhabited by 8 families of Armenian refugees and 7 families of Palestinians. Ahmad has worked for UNRWA for 22 years and he is now retired. Among the palestinian camps in Lebanon, Rashidieh is the closest to the Israeli border.
Litani, Lebanon. The river Litani marks the area of operation of Unifil troops in southern Lebanon, and has always been a natural limit to the invading Israeli troops.
Alma Ach Shaab, Lebanon. Outside the UNIFIL Italian Advanced Position 1-31 along the Blue Line, Blue Pillars are planted by Unifl to sign the border on the ground. For the position of each pillar an agreement is made between the Lebanese army and the Israeli Defence Force, brokered by Unifl representatives.
Rosh Hanikra, Israel, Rony Haddad is a lebanese originary from the village of Ain Ebel. His father was a fighter with the South Lebanon Army, supporting the Israeli army in the occupation of South Lebanon. When israeli forces withdrew from Lebanon in the spring of 2000, Rony and his family, together with thousands other lebanese who had cooperated with Israel, crossed the border and flew in Israel fearing retaliation from Hezbollah. They settled in towns close to the border and built a new life in Israel, but they hope they will be allowed to go back to Lebanon one day.
Rosh Hanikra, Israel. The Rosh Hanikra cape, the extreme point of Israeli territory on the sea before Lebanon.