JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Last week, we aired a story from Beirut about one family's search for their 26-year-old daughter, Zahraa Abboud. They were looking in the rubble of a destroyed apartment building in the center of the city one week after Israel carried out widespread airstrikes across Lebanon, hitting what it called Hezbollah targets. A few days later, her remains were identified. And today, NPR's Kat Lonsdorf attended her funeral in her family's village in the south.
KAT LONSDORF, BYLINE: When we arrive in Anqoun, a small, predominantly Shia village, a large crowd is gathered near the mosque in the center. Hanging in the middle of the main street is a big picture of Zahraa Abboud smiling, dressed in white. Nearby is her casket. The streets are so tightly packed with mourners, it's difficult to move.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Singing in non-English language).
LONSDORF: A group of men lifts the casket on their shoulders and carries it through the crowd, followed closely by her family, to the cemetery. Her remains are placed into a freshly dug grave, which is covered with slabs of stone and then dirt. Her father, Kassem Abboud, watches it all quietly. After her burial, everyone goes to the family's house to pay their respects. Zahraa's cousin, Ayat Abboud (ph), says the two were friends since they were small.
AYAT ABBOUD: (Non-English language spoken).
LONSDORF: "She was so joyful, so sweet," she says. "Our hearts are broken today." I ask her what's been going through her mind since Zahraa went missing.
AYAT ABBOUD: (Non-English language spoken).
LONSDORF: "All I can think about is how close she might've been to the missile," she says. And her face fills with pain. The Israeli military did not respond to NPR's request into the specific strike on the apartment building in central Beirut where Zahraa was staying, which killed two of her aunts, an uncle, the family's Ethiopian domestic worker and seriously injured her older sister. Israel carried out about a hundred strikes that day in less than 10 minutes across Lebanon, saying it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and that it took, quote, "extensive efforts to mitigate civilian harm."
There were no warnings before the strikes. More than 350 people were killed that day, according to Lebanese officials, the deadliest day in this war. Israel says a majority were Hezbollah fighters. Lebanon says almost all were civilians. Zahraa 's brother, Ali Abboud, was at the site of the strike day and night searching the rubble for her remains.
ALI ABBOUD: (Non-English language spoken).
LONSDORF: He says he got the call from the hospital when she was identified through DNA testing last week.
ALI ABBOUD: (Non-English language spoken).
LONSDORF: "It was really difficult," he says, "because even though we were expecting it to be her, we still had a very, very small hope that maybe she was alive."
ALI ABBOUD: (Non-English language spoken).
LONSDORF: He says he's glad she's finally home - maybe now the family can start to heal.
Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Anqoun in southern Lebanon. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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