South Lebanon children return to school destroyed by Israel strike

BURJ QALAWAY, Lebanon — In southern Lebanon, eight-year-old Yara Ajami started the academic year this week in a doorless, windowless classroom after her school was destroyed by an Israeli strike. Well known in the area for its excellence, Ajami's elementary school in Burj Qalaway was struck by Israel in May, two months after Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into the Middle East war by attacking its southern neighbour. "We are happy to be back (to school), but we were happier before. We used to draw, play, but now there are no desks or chairs," the young girl with braided hair said as she climbed a bare concrete staircase. Rather than go to their old school building, Ajami and the other students returning to classes after the summer break on Monday were diverted to a nearby structure still under construction that was being built to house preschoolers. The sun shone through unglazed windows into unfinished classrooms as children followed their lessons, while outside clumps of twisted rebar jutted from the ground like dead bushes where walls used to stand. The students come from areas heavily hit