Fishers at Lebanese port hope for a normal future

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The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah brought hope for normality back to many in southern Lebanon on Friday, including fishermen who have long launched their single-engine wooden boats into the Mediterranean at dawn.

During the last two months of its year fighting Hezbollah, Israel imposed a siege on southern Lebanon that kept hundreds of fishers at this ancient Phoenician port on shore, upending their lives and the industry.

The loss of fish damaged a deep association with home, but now the possibility of renewed Lebanese fishing on the country's southern coast is helping fuel hope for a brighter future. On Friday, a few boats went out close to the shore as fishers in the port worked on the nets of small boats painted white, blue or red.

A week ago, a drone strike killed two young fishers in the city as they prepared their nets on the coast, and some fishermen said Friday that the Lebanese army told them that they if headed out it would be at their own risk.

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