Life and loss as a first responder in southern Lebanon

Ali Safiuddin is the head of the Civil Defence in Tyre, and in his life and career as a first responder, he has had to come to terms with life and loss.

Although southern Lebanon is officially covered by a ceasefire, along the “Yellow Line” – the area Israel has claimed as a security zone – there are still frequent bombings and shelling.

“Things are relatively normal,” said Safiuddin on a late June morning in southern Lebanon. “After the ceasefire, the only strikes that have happened are in al-Mansouri and Majadal [two municipalities in Tyre District], along the ‘Yellow Line’.”

“Relatively normal” means that the Israeli military is not directly striking Tyre, the largest city in southern Lebanon. But the war continues on its outskirts, along and in the military zone imposed by Israel that stretches about 10km (6 miles) inside Lebanon’s borders.

Safiuddin is the head of the Civil Defence in Tyre and the subject of a new short film from Al Jazeera Originals, titled The Ones We Couldn’t Save .

Safiuddin’s career in the Civil Defence, rescuing civilians trapped under rubble caused by countless Israeli air strikes, has accustomed him to loss.

During the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, he brought his wife and one-year-old daughter, Lynn, to stay in a shelter underneath the Civil Defence centre, thinking it would be safe. Israel struck the building, killing Lynn. The event continues to haunt him to this day, but also motivates him to continue his mission to save other lives.

“I feel that my daughter, my daughter’s soul, is with me,” he said.