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Israel has continued drone strikes and other attacks along Lebanon's southern border. This is despite a ceasefire last year with Hezbollah. Israel says the attacks are to prevent Hezbollah from regrouping, and while most drones have carried out surveillance or dropped explosives, one recent drone flight took a surreal turn. NPR's Jane Arraf brings us this report from southern Lebanon.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: We meet Tarek Mazraani in the garden of his cousin's home in Nabatieh. He's a mild-mannered architect with degrees in engineering, philosophy and archaeology. Mazraani, who is 60, is from the border village of Houla. Most of the town, including his home, is destroyed, hit by Israeli airstrikes in the war with Hezbollah. Mazraani, who is also a poet, artist and musician, says his aims are purely humanitarian.
TAREK MAZRAANI: (Through interpreter) We've been suffering for two years. Most of our houses have been demolished. And we found that the border area has been completely forgotten. No one was talking about it.
ARRAF: So Mazraani created an informal association of residents for more than 30 border villages. He held a press conference. He tells us he suggested a state-sponsored fund for the thousands of displaced families and eventually reconstruction.
MAZRAANI: (Through interpreter) Some people need milk for their children. Some need medicine for chronic diseases. Some people need schoolbooks for their children, and they don't have money to pay for it.
ARRAF: Simple goals. That's why what happened next was so surprising. On Sunday, October 12, a few weeks after we met him, Mazraani was home helping his kids with homework when he received a message.
MAZRAANI: (Through interpreter) Suddenly, one of my friends sends me, look, there's a video talking about you. I thought it was a joke at first.
ARRAF: It wasn't. People were recording what the Lebanese prime minister later said was an Israeli drone. It hovered over at least three towns with messages in Arabic, calling out his name.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Arabic).
ARRAF: Tarek Mazraani continues his conspiracies. Chase him. Expel him so security returns and reconstruction takes place, it says. Soon, everyone was talking about him.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Tarek Mazraani? (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Tarek Mazraani? Who's that, this girl asks.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Arabic).
ARRAF: The drone and the message were terrifying.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Dad, it's talking, says a little boy in one video, telling his father they should escape. When we spoke again with Mazraani, he said almost everyone in his 40-apartment building fled, worried it would be targeted. Drones are a favored weapon of Israel. Israeli attacks killed more than 4,000 Lebanese during the war with Hezbollah, according to the Lebanese government. The Israeli military says Hezbollah and its allies killed at least 135 people at Israel.
MAZRAANI: (Through interpreter) My kids and family were very scared. My kids cried a lot. They started saying, where are we going to go? And the neighbors gathered, and then the building next to us all became empty.
ARRAF: He left with his wife and children. The family came back a few days later, but Mazraani has not, fearing for their safety. An engineering student, Mohammad Olleik, who heard the drone in his town of Mahmour said they're used to the sound, but this one was different.
MOHAMMAD OLLEIK: (Through interpreter) It started making disturbing sounds, like the sounds of ambulances and warplanes, to frighten people.
ARRAF: Olleik says it didn't scare him, but it terrified his little brother.
OLLEIK: (Through interpreter) Some people wanted to flee. I thought, where are we headed? What's going to happen to us if an engineer who is asking for reconstruction is being told not to live among civilians?
ARRAF: Mazraani isn't involved in politics and says he doesn't share Hezbollah's ideology. He's known for a heritage museum he created in his border village with antique tools and handcrafts. Like most Lebanese, he doesn't have work.
MAZRAANI: (Speaking Arabic).
ARRAF: "I don't know anyone here, and no one knows me," he says. "Is someone who doesn't know you going to say, come work on my house?" The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment. UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force, says it is investigating. Mazraani still finds it surreal. He feels unsafe. He can't see his family. He doesn't visit friends. He says he has no idea why Israel would threaten him, a civilian who poses no threat. Even worse, he says, there's nothing he can do about it.
Jane Arraf, NPR News in south Lebanon. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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