Lebanese on the edge of Israel's occupation live with fear and rising tensions

JDEIDAT MARJAYOUN, Lebanon (AP) — Looking out from a friend’s balcony, Milia el-Cheikh struggled to find her own home in the ruins of her now-deserted village, its entrances strung with barbed wire.

Her village of Dibbine is one of several Shiite-majority communities across southern Lebanon destroyed by Israeli forces battling the Iran-backed Shiite Hezbollah. Israel has occupied vast areas and fighting has raged through declared ceasefires. The latest truce — part of the interim peace deal between the United States and Iran — appears to be holding.

El-Cheikh, one of the few Christians from Dibbine, found shelter in another village but regularly visits Jdeidat Marjayoun, a mostly Christian village next to her hometown, to have coffee with a friend from church. Before the war, it was a comforting ritual. Now it takes place against a backdrop of loss and fear.

“I don't know anything about my house,” she said. “Nothing is more agonizing than not being able to get to your home.”

Jdeidat Marjayoun is one of a string of towns and villages visited by The Associated Press on the blurry edge of the Israeli-occupied zone of southern Lebanon. The military has pushed out the mostly Shiite population, believing they harbor Hezbollah, and many towns have been demolished.

Residents of neighboring Christian, Sunni and Druze communities have been allowed to stay, but the conflict has transformed their lives. Their homes have been struck, road closures have isolated them from the rest of Lebanon, and nighttime raids by Israeli troops have terrified residents.

Israeli warnings against hosting Hezbollah fighters have effectively barred them from taking in displaced Shiites, driving a wedge between longtime neighbors and stoking political and sectarian tensions.

The latest conflict began when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel days after Israel and the U.S. launched their war on Iran on Feb. 28. Israel invaded Lebanon and has expanded its zone of control up to 12 kilometers (7 miles) deep in places.

As troops advanced, Israel warned people to leave large areas of southern Lebanon, and in April published a list of 53 towns and villages — mostly Shiite — where residents are barred from returning. On Thursday, it added eight more predominantly Shiite villages.

Israel says its troops will remain in southern Lebanon for self-defense. It says Hezbollah was deeply entrenched and has released videos purporting to show tunnels and other military infrastructure in residential areas.

Iran says any wider truce must include Lebanon and that Israel must withdraw, while Hezbollah says it will resist occupation. Lebanon's government has also called on Israel to withdraw.

Mixed villages and towns on the edge of the security zone, spread over hills and valleys among orchards and olive groves, stand within sight of their devastated neighbors. Residents have vowed to stay.

The Shiite town of Khiam — now an empty white swath of flattened buildings controlled by Israel — can be seen from the Christian village of Qlayaa.

Qlayaa’s residents are effectively barred from reaching their olive groves in the valley between. “Now another season is lost,” said Hanna Daher, Qlayaa’s mayor.

A priest in Qlayaa was killed by shelling as he inspected an earlier strike, and a father and his two children were killed in a drone strike while driving to Qlayaa. Israel says it only targets militants.

In Jdeidat Marjayoun, a house was bombed on suspicion that militants were using it. Rockets — believed to be from Hezbollah — damaged a church’s dome. In other places, solar panels, power transmitters and water stations have been hit.

El-Cheikh fled Dibbine with her neighbors in early March after Israel warned people to leave. In late May, following weeks of fighting, Israeli forces raided Dibbine before withdrawing in early June.

As the fighting raged, el-Cheikh’s friend, Lolitta Costantine, huddled with her husband in their home in Jdeidat Marjayoun, and at one point stayed with neighbors. Cracks caused by explosions run down the walls of her home. Windows were shattered and doors knocked loose. She keeps shrapnel as a reminder of the ordeal.

“We didn’t know where the danger was coming from,” Costantine said.

Shiites seeking shelter from the fighting have been turned away by those who fear Israeli strikes or eviction, aggravating tensions that have been mostly dormant since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.

When a Qlayaa resident hosted a friend from a Shiite village in his orchard, his house was bombed, said Daher, the mayor. Other residents have asked Shiites seeking refuge to leave.

“We told them, we don’t want problems for you or for us,” Daher said.

Israel has warned Jdeidat Marjayoun’s municipality not to allow in people displaced from neighboring villages, saying it could put the town at risk or force it to be evacuated, the municipality said on social media.

“We were forced to ask some to leave the town,” said the parish priest, Father Philip Habib Okla. “It caused many disagreements and tension,” he added. “We are counting on faith to remain united.”

The Israeli military said it has warned people in parts of southern Lebanon not to allow Hezbollah to use their villages. It said Hezbollah operates in civilian areas, endangering residents.

During Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation of southern Lebanon, the area was a bastion of the South Lebanon Army, a mostly Christian militia working with the Israeli military. When Israel withdrew, some of them fled to Israel while others faced trial in Lebanon, where they were widely seen as collaborators.

Some residents worry they will be unfairly painted with that brush for staying in their homes. Few are willing to speak of the tensions openly, fearing retaliation by Israel or Hezbollah.

At a church visited by AP, a man shouted in exasperation that everyone had become suspicious of each other, even among Christians. He blamed Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon into the war, saying it had made a serious mistake.

Late one night in March, Israeli forces surrounded a building in the mostly Sunni village of Halta. They burst in and arrested Chadi Abdel-Al, who screamed “my heart” as he was being beaten and dragged into a van, according to his mother, Ayesha al-Qaderi, who lives in the same building.

In the commotion, a 15-year-old relative, Mohammad Abdel-Al, ran through the dark in his pajamas toward the house, his grandfather, Hatem, said. The Israeli soldiers shot him dead. A neighbor, who was out on his balcony, was wounded.

The Israeli military said it had detained the commander of a local militant group.

In a separate incident, Israeli troops detained three farmers from Halta during a raid on a nearby village.

They are among at least eight people detained by Israeli troops since March, according to Lebanese media. The Israeli military says they were suspected of involvement in militant activities and plots against its troops.

“We still don’t know why they kidnapped them. Maybe to instill fear in the village and to send a message that they see everyone,” said Issa Abdel-Al, the community’s leader.

“It has become like the West Bank here,” he added, referring to the occupied Palestinian territory.

Al-Qaderi, who has heard nothing about her son since he was spirited away, said: “I just want to know his fate.”

Lolitta Costantine holds pieces of shrapnel she said landed in her home during the recent conflict, in the southern town of Jdeidat Marjayoun, Lebanon, Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) CORRECTION: City corrected to Jdeidat Marjayoun, instead of Marjayoun.

Wadiaa Salloum lights candles inside St. Georges Orthodox Church in the southern town of Jdeidat Marjayoun, Lebanon, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) CORRECTION: City corrected to Jdeidat Marjayoun, instead of Marjayoun

The damaged roof and bell tower of St. George Greek Orthodox Church are seen in the southern town of Jdeitat Marjayoun, Lebanon, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) CORRECTION: City corrected to Jdeidat Marjayoun, instead of Marjayoun.

Lolitta Costantine, right, serves coffee as Wadiaa Salloum sits in the garden of her home in the southern town of Jdeidat Marjayoun, Lebanon, Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) CORRECTION: City corrected to Jdeidat Marjayoun, instead of Marjayoun

From left, Lolitta Costantine, Wadiaa Salloum, and Marie Salloum sit outside Costantine's home in the southern town of Jdeidat Marjayoun, Lebanon, Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar) CORRECTION: City corrected to Jdeidat Marjayoun, instead of Marjayoun.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Ben McAdams, a former Utah congressman who has sought to shed his reputation as a moderate, won the Democratic primary Tuesday in a redrawn U.S. House district that Democrats are strongly favored to win this fall.

His victory over three progressive candidates disappointed voters who wanted to push the Democratic Party further to the left in a race that illustrated the ideological clash playing out in Democratic primaries across the country this year. His opponents included a state senator and a former employee of TikTok and Meta who had insisted McAdams is too conservative to represent a left-leaning district. Some had urged one or two of the candidates to drop out of the primary to give a progressive a greater chance of winning.

The Salt Lake City area's 1st Congressional District is among the few anticipated Democratic pickups following a national redistricting fight started by President Donald Trump to try to help Republicans maintain their majority in the U.S. House. Democrats need to gain only a few seats in November to take control of the narrowly divided chamber.

McAdams is strongly favored to defeat Republican Riley Owen, an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve who was chosen during the state GOP’s spring convention. Nevertheless, he appealed to his primary challengers and their supporters to help maintain the party's momentum.

“The energy and the passion your campaigns brought to this race is exactly what we need headed into November," McAdams said after his win.

The other three of Utah's four congressional seats are considered safely Republican. That includes the 3rd District, where Trump-endorsed U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy fended off a conservative challenge from the right.

Candidates in the new district tried to outflank one another on the left. That marks a departure from decades of Democrats trying to appeal to Utah's mostly conservative electorate.

State Democrats held an open primary, meaning anyone in the district could vote, regardless of party affiliation.

During his 2018 campaign, McAdams pitched himself as a moderate when he ousted a GOP incumbent in the midterms of Trump’s first term. He also described himself at the time as having anti-abortion views, but said the decision to terminate a pregnancy should be made by a woman in consultation with her doctors, family and faith counselors. This year, as he campaigned in a much more Democratic district, McAdams pledged his support for abortion rights and insisted that he’s only “moderate in tone.”

After his primary win, McAdams outlined his previous work in Congress to expand healthcare, invest in public lands and secure protections for LGBTQ+ communities. But he said his defining vote was to impeach Trump, which was met with loud applause from his supporters.

“I would do it again,” he said. “Character matters, courage matters and right now talk is cheap. Utahans deserve someone who has already shown the courage to stand up and speak with conviction when the pressure is real.”

A supporter, Donna Gunn, said McAdams' victory is an opportunity to send a fierce ally for LGBTQ+ rights back to Washington. While she was dejected after the 2024 presidential race, she said Tuesday's primary outcome restored her hope.

“We are so happy and so lucky to get Ben, who’s going to stand up to that bully in the White House,” she said.

Among McAdams' opponents was state Sen. Nate Blouin, a progressive firebrand in the Republican-controlled Legislature who had hoped to bounce back from a social media controversy.

Blouin apologized in April for several posts he made on internet forums between 2009 and 2015 that denigrated women and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Utah-based faith known widely as the Mormon church.

Blouin tried to energize an electorate he said has grown accustomed to settling for someone who will “play nice” with Republicans. He racked up endorsements from some of the country’s most prominent progressives, including independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Greg Casar and Maxwell Frost.

On Tuesday night, he looked ahead and issued a statement saying his campaign, while falling short, marked “the beginning of a new era of organizing" in the state.

“The progressive movement in Utah still has a long way to go, but we’ve helped forge the path forward, and we’ll keep organizing for a better Utah where public lands are protected, ICE is abolished, and reproductive freedom is secure,” he said.

Two other progressive candidates, both political newcomers, Liban Mohamed and Michael Farrell, also vied for the seat.

Mohamed, a former Meta and TikTok employee, was a breakout star at the state’s Democratic convention earlier this year, where he emerged victorious after five rounds of ranked choice voting to earn the party’s backing in the primary over McAdams. He was backed by other prominent progressives, including U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley.

While progressive voters had a wealth of candidates from which to choose, some also said the field was too big and ended up splitting their support too many ways.

“It definitely was a heartbreaking feeling,” said Alex Minero, a Blouin supporter. “I still think having a Democrat in Congress is a win. It’s still better than nothing, but Nate Blouin would’ve done a much better job than Ben McAdams.”

Utah's new congressional map also left Maloy vulnerable to a primary challenge from a candidate who is further to the right.

But she handily defeated former state lawmaker Phil Lyman, who embraced false claims of fraud following the 2020 presidential election.

The district, spanning most of southern and eastern Utah, emerged last fall from a legal battle over the state’s previous congressional map, dramatically altering its makeup.

Maloy was first elected to Congress in a special election in 2023 and was reelected to a full term in 2024. She worked previously as a soil conservationist and an attorney with a focus on public lands and water policy.

After her primary win, she issued a statement saying her campaign was focused on promoting “the conservative results” she had produced for her constituents.

She will face Democratic nominee Kent Udell, an engineer, in the November general election. Maloy is heavily favored to win in the deep red 3rd District.

Associated Press writer Matthew Brown in Denver contributed to this report.

Nate Blouin watches the results roll in with his wife, Jackie Rosen, at his primary election watch party at Kiitos Brewing in Salt Lake City, Utah on Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (Kristin Murphy/The Deseret News via AP)

Democratic congressional candidate Ben McAdams speaks between family members James, Isaac and Julie during a watch party for Utah's primary election on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Alex Goodlett)

Democratic congressional candidate Ben McAdams speaks during a watch party for Utah's primary election on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Alex Goodlett)

Democratic congressional candidate Ben McAdams speaks between family members Isaac, James and Julie during a watch party for Utah's primary election on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Alex Goodlett)

Utah congressional candidate Nate Blouin, left, speaks to Brian King, the chair of the Utah Democratic Party, at an Election Night watch party at Kiitos Brewing in Salt Lake City, Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)

Democratic congressional candidate Ben McAdams speaks to a crowd during a watch party for Utah's primary election on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Alex Goodlett)

Vote Here signs are posted outside the Salt Lake County Government Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)

A Utah voter places a ballot in a drop box outside the Salt Lake County Government Center in Salt Lake City, Tuesday, June 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)

A sign hangs at a voting center during Utah's primary election on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Alex Goodlett)

FILE - Liban Mohamed, the son of Somali immigrants and a former Meta and TikTok employee, speaks on a panel of candidates running to represent Utah's new Democratic-leaning congressional district, March 21, 2026, in Taylorsville, Utah. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum, File)

FILE - Utah state Sen. Nate Blouin, left, and tax attorney Michael Farrell speak on a panel of candidates running to represent Utah's new Democratic-leaning congressional district, March 21, 2026, in Taylorsville, Utah. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum, File)

FILE - Former U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams speaks at a forum for candidates running to represent Utah's new Democratic-leaning congressional district, March 21, 2026, in Taylorsville, Utah. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum, File)