A Lebanese woman shared a video in which she is playing a piano in her once-safe family home that is now reduced to ruins amid as Israel and Hezbollah trade fire.
Julia Ali's post was a response to a recent video of Israeli soldiers exploring the ruins of her house in southern Lebanon and casually playing the same piano, which she had played a year ago.
Ms Ali wrote about the pain of seeing her home – where her family had created memories, shared laughter, and built a life – turned to rubble. “Watching the place I called home turn to rubble is a pain too deep for words,” she wrote on Instagram.
“This wasn't just walls and a roof; this was years of my family's dreams, sacrifices, and love built into a sanctuary. Now, to see invaders wandering through it, mocking it, touching the piano where I once poured my heart into every note... it feels like they're trampling on pieces of my soul.”
Ms Ali shared that in the video from a year ago, she played a piece from The Pianist, the 2002 film directed by Roman Polanski. The film tells the true story of Polish-Jewish pianist Władysław Szpilman, played by Adrien Brody, during World War II. The film portrays Szpilman's struggle for survival in Nazi-occupied Warsaw and his profound connection to music as a means of enduring the horrors of war.
“Back then, I could never have imagined that my country would be living a tragedy so similar now,” Ms Ali wrote.
The post ended on a hopeful note, with Ms Ali vowing to rise from the devastation and envision a new chapter for her and her homeland.
Israel's ongoing war has killed over 3,000 people in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. On Tuesday, Israeli airstrikes in eastern Lebanon killed at least 52 people and injured 76. Despite an evacuation order issued by the Israeli military for Baalbek, many strikes occurred near the designated evacuation zones. Survivors reported severe destruction, including the collapse of residential buildings, and civilian casualties predominantly involved children and women.
