Region | Lebanon
Lebanese and Israelis are wary of conflict despite the lull
Despite one of the quietest periods in decades along the Israel-Lebanon frontier, people on both sides of the border seem to fear that another eruption of violence is only a matter of time.
- AP
- Published: 22:39 September 12, 2009
- Image Credit: AP
- Lebanese and Unifil soldiers inspect the area where two rockets were fired into Israel, from the southern town of Qlaileh, near the port city of Tyre. Two rockets were fired from southern Lebanon into Israel on Friday, prompting Israel to respond with artillery fire, Lebanese security and military officials said.
Beirut: Despite one of the quietest periods in decades along the Israel-Lebanon frontier, people on both sides of the border seem to fear that another eruption of violence is only a matter of time.
Sporadic flare-ups - like the exchange of fire on Friday - remind residents how easily fighting can be sparked. And an ongoing war of words between Israel and Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah fighters has some convinced that one or the other of the two sides is planning a revival of the brutal war that they fought in the summer of 2006.
"This peace that you see today is not real. It is extremely fragile, it can blow up any minute, just as it did in 2006," said Salam Jalbout, a 45-year-old Lebanese Christian merchant who lives in the predominantly Shiite town of Khiam near the border.
Jalbout, whose house, shop and car were partially destroyed in the fighting three years ago, said the uncertainty was keeping badly needed investors and tourists away. "The situation is not reassuring at all," he said. People south of the border in Israel are only slightly more optimistic.
"The residents are a little worried but they are brave heroes," said Jacky Sabag, mayor of the northern Israeli town of Nahariya, the target of Friday's rocket fire.
"We do not fear another war, and I hope there won't be one, but if there will be one then the city is ready and the residents are ready," said Sabag, whose town was hit by hundreds of Hezbollah rockets and emptied of most of its residents in 2006.
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The 2006 war began when Hezbollah fighters attacked an Israeli border patrol, killing five Israeli soldiers and taking two of the bodies back into Lebanon. Israel retaliated with a massive bombardment and sent troops over the border, as Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel. The fighting killed more than 1,400 Lebanese and 160 Israelis and devastated large parts of southern Lebanon, the country's Shiite heartland.
But since the fighting was halted under a UN resolution, the border has enjoyed perhaps its most prolonged period of relative calm since the 1970s.
Though Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah has boasted of rebuilding its arsenal of rockets, it has not fired across the border since the ceasefire. That has led to some to believe it is wary of sparking destructive Israeli retaliation that would undermine its support among the Lebanese - particularly now that it's playing a greater role in Lebanese politics.
The quiet has not been complete. Three times this year, Palestinian fighters have fired rockets over the border into Israel, though they have caused no deaths. On Friday, two rockets were fired into northern Israel, prompting Israeli artillery fire against the launch area in southern Lebanon. There were no reports of casualties.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Lebanese government it would be responsible for any attack launched from its territory, and his defence minister, Ehud Barak, said Israel would "go after not only Hezbollah but the entire state of Lebanon."
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in turn, warned that his fighters would hit Tel Aviv if Israel attacks Beirut. Marking the third anniversary of the war this summer, Nasrallah said his men are now capable of striking any Israeli city - a boast that is largely supported by Israeli intelligence assessments.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah expert Amal Sa'ad Ghorayeb said war at some point is probably inevitable.
Hezbollah has "reimagined its strategy, arsenal and thinking to pose an even greater threat to its enemy to the south," she wrote in a recently published article.
Do you think enough is being done to avoid conflicts between Israel and its neighbours? Who do you think can play the strongest role in brokering peace? Why?
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