War casts shadow over Lebanon's ancient Baalbek

FILE - This picture shows closed shops on an empty street in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbeck on Oct. 19, 2024. FILE - This picture shows the entrance of the historical Palmyra hotel in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek on Oct. 19, 2024. FILE - A picture taken on May 28, 2019, shows the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Qadisha valley, surrounded by the towns of Bcharre (R) and Hasroun, in the Lebanese mountains north of Beirut. A man inspects the damage in a house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek in the Bekaa valley on Oct. 21, 2024. FILE - Part of the temples of Baalbek, a UNESCO world heritage site in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, illuminated in blue light, Oct. 24, 2015.

Since war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah, the famed Palmyra Hotel in east Lebanon's Baalbek has been without visitors, but long-time employee Rabih Salika refuses to leave — even as bombs drop nearby.