At Haitam Suleiman’s Almakwa laundry and cafe on the usually bustling thoroughfare of Jaffa Road in downtown Haifa, there was nothing to do on Monday except play chess.

Like so many other businesses in this mixed Jewish, Christian, and Muslim commercial area in the north of the city, there have been no customers since Israel and the United States began airstrikes targeting the Iranian regime on February 28.

Israel has been targeted with near-constant salvos of indiscriminate Iranian missile fire, while on the northern border with Lebanon, the Hezbollah terror group has fired rockets and missiles into Israel as well, sending residents across the country scrambling for shelter.

Suleiman, 36, whose background is both Christian and Muslim, set Almakwa up eight years ago, and has weathered the coronavirus crisis, the two-year conflict in Gaza, and last June’s 12-day war with Iran.

Now, he has a partner, Maysoon, 34, and an 18-month-old son, Tsari, to worry about. At least Maysoon, who works in the special needs sector, is slowly returning to hybrid work — a portion in person, and some on Zoom.

Suleiman said he had no idea how much longer he could hold onto the business. “We’re not getting help from anyone,” he added.

“There’s also no emotional or social support,” Maysoon chipped in. “We’re a young couple with a child. How can we continue?”

While Suleiman and Maysoon have a protected room in their home in which to shelter during siren alerts, they have to run from the cafe to a nearby underground parking lot, popularly known as Minus Three, which also served Haifa residents during the last Iran war.

Less than a year has passed since the last time Iranian missiles rained down on this city, causing damage to residential and public buildings, and hitting Haifa Bay’s Bazan oil refineries, where three workers died in a missile-related fire.

Two apartment blocks gutted by shockwaves from an Iranian missile on June 18 still stand, eyelessly awaiting........

© The Times of Israel