"It is our right to preserve and remain in our land," town mayor Shadi Sayah told AFP over the phone.

"We are pacifists... a danger to no one," he added, as the sound of strikes got closer.

Following the start of a new war between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah on Monday, the Israeli military warned residents in large swathes of southern Lebanon to flee, causing mass exodus.

The area, surrounded by green hills, saw many of its localities razed in the last war in 2024. It is now nearly free of residents.

Close to the border, Alma al-Shaab is one of several Christian towns and villages in the south which have tried to stay away from the conflict.

Farther east, several hundred inhabitants of the large town of Marjeyoun and the neighbouring village of Qlayaa also say they are determined to stay on their land, as they did during the previous war, from October 2023 to November 2024.

Dozens of people gathered in one of Marjeyoun's churches on Friday, with the local priest saying they "will not leave".

"We have only one choice: to remain steadfast."

A Marjeyoun resident, requesting anonymity, told AFP that "we have bread, but my wife also bought flour, in case of a famine".

- 'We love our land' -

Of Alma al-Shaab's 250 residents, 96 have stayed including women, children and elderly people.

"We want to live in peace in our land... we love our land, we grew up here, and we will die here," Fadi Haddad, 43, said.

In 2024, the town's residents fled, contrary to other Christian villages.

Alma al-Shaab then became a "war zone", mayor Sayah said, as it was caught in the crossfire between Hezbollah and Israel.

Now, only the town's residents are there, and "we did not see anyone else go in or out".

The Lebanese military, which had a post in the village, withdrew on Tuesday as Israeli forces started their incursions into the country.

According to a source among the United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, the incursions are limited so far as Israeli troops are "entering and leaving".

Sayah said they are "traumatised by what we went through" in the last war

Upon returning after the November 2024 ceasefire, residents saw that more than half of the homes were destroyed.

"That is why we will remain, no matter the outcome," he added.

"Of course I am scared, I am trembling, but what will history remember? That 96 crazy people... were attached to their land."