By Emilie Madi and Maya Gebeily

RIYAK, Lebanon (Reuters) -Elias Maalouf crouched to examine a shrivelling grapevine in his ancestral vineyard in the sun-kissed plains of eastern Lebanon. Last year, Israeli air strikes kept him from picking most of the grapes. Now, a drought has slashed his harvest.

"Whether it's a political war or a climate war, we're suffering on all sides," said Maalouf, 42, whose family has been making wine for six generations.

As the sun rose, six women quietly picked clusters of 13 different grape varieties in Maalouf's fields in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon's agricultural heartland and the capital of its winemaking industry.

The region was hit hard by last year's deadly Israeli air strikes targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah that began on September 23, peak grape-picking season. That afternoon, a three-storey building near Maalouf's winery in the town of Riyak was hit.

Maalouf and his elderly father were........

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