For Mariam, 75, is this the fifth time she had to feel her home because of Israeli attacks. (IOL picture)

BEIRUT — Fatima is probably the world's only five-month toddler to enroll in a secondary school, courtesy of the Israeli occupation army that flattened her family's home in south Lebanon and forced them to flee north in search of safety.

"We sought shelter here after we escaped the devilish Israeli bombardment," Fatima's mother, Zahra Zilzal, told IslamOnline.net.

Like hundreds of families that fled the hard-hit Lebanese south, they are now leaving in the classrooms of a secondary school in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

"We have 'enrolled' in this school and have no place else to go," lamented the 42-year-old mother fighting back her tears.

Zilzal and her five young children fled their homes as soon as Israel launched its wide-scale offensive on Lebanon, now in its 16th day.

"We left Deir Qanoun village along with my sister and her children as soon as the Israeli bombing started. We were lucky to survive the risky trip," she said.

"Some of the other families were burned inside their vehicles after Israeli aircraft bombed them."

Jan Egeland, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said Wednesday, July 26, that there are now about 600,000 refugees in Lebanon and that number is "growing every day by the tens of thousands."

Most of the evacuees have taken shelter in schools, garages and centers in the capital Beirut.

Fifth Evacuation

Thousands of Lebanese have taken shelter in schools, garages and centers in the capital Beirut. (IOL picture)

For some Lebanese, this was not the first time they had been forced to flee their homes because of Israeli attacks.

In one of the classrooms Mariam, 75, was stretched on the ground.

"This is the fifth time my mother had to leave her home because of Israeli attacks on the south along the years," her son Abbas told IOL.

"She lost my father and brother in the Israeli bombing back in 1975," he recalled tearfully.

"Thirty years on, she is now seeing her grandchildren living the same Israeli nightmare."

Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and only withdrew from the occupied south in 2000 under the yoke of heroic resistance operations by Hizbullah.

Resistance

Naqiyah, 48, said they have nothing left after Israel destroyed their homes.

"We have lost everything," she told IOL.

"Let the entire world stands witness to our never-ending suffering at the hands of the barbaric Israeli army."

Her five-year-old grandchild enters the fray.

"We will be back and we will continue the fight," said young Najwa.

Despite their suffering, many of the displaced families remained steadfast.

"We will not give up an inch of our lands to the Israelis," said 16-year-old Ali.

"We all stand by the resistance," said Zahra, 69, flashing the victory sign.

Zahra Zilzal agrees.

"The resistance will help us back to our homes after the international law failed us."