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Lebanese Live With Fear,Rising Tensions06/24 06:09
JDEIDAT MARJAYOUN, Lebanon (AP) -- Looking out from a friend's balcony,
Milia el-Cheikh struggled to find her own home in the ruins of her now-deserted
village, its entrances strung with barbed wire.
Her village of Dibbine is one of several Shiite-majority communities across
southern Lebanon destroyed by Israeli forces battling the Iran-backed Shiite
Hezbollah. Israel has occupied vast areas and fighting has raged through
declared ceasefires. The latest truce -- part of the interim peace deal between
the United States and Iran -- appears to be holding.
El-Cheikh, one of the few Christians from Dibbine, found shelter in another
village but regularly visits Jdeidat Marjayoun, a mostly Christian village next
to her hometown, to have coffee with a friend from church. Before the war, it
was a comforting ritual. Now it takes place against a backdrop of loss and fear.
"I don't know anything about my house," she said. "Nothing is more agonizing
than not being able to get to your home."
Jdeidat Marjayoun is one of a string of towns and villages visited by The
Associated Press on the blurry edge of the Israeli-occupied zone of southern
Lebanon. The military has pushed out the mostly Shiite population, believing
they harbor Hezbollah, and many towns have been demolished.
Residents of neighboring Christian, Sunni and Druze communities have been
allowed to stay, but the conflict has transformed their lives. Their homes have
been struck, road closures have isolated them from the rest of Lebanon, and
nighttime raids by Israeli troops have terrified residents.
Israeli warnings against hosting Hezbollah fighters have effectively barred
them from taking in displaced Shiites, driving a wedge between longtime
neighbors and stoking political and sectarian tensions.
Lebanon is a linchpin for the Iran deal
The latest conflict began when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel days
after Israel and the U.S. launched their war on Iran on Feb. 28. Israel invaded
Lebanon and has expanded its zone of control up to 12 kilometers (7 miles) deep
in places.
As troops advanced, Israel warned people to leave large areas of southern
Lebanon, and in April published a list of 53 towns and villages -- mostly
Shiite -- where residents are barred from returning. On Thursday, it added
eight more predominantly Shiite villages.
Israel says its troops will remain in southern Lebanon for self-defense. It
says Hezbollah was deeply entrenched and has released videos purporting to show
tunnels and other military infrastructure in residential areas.
Iran says any wider truce must include Lebanon and that Israel must
withdraw, while Hezbollah says it will resist occupation. Lebanon's government
has also called on Israel to withdraw.
They live in the Israeli military's shadow
Mixed villages and towns on the edge of the security zone, spread over hills
and valleys among orchards and olive groves, stand within sight of their
devastated neighbors. Residents have vowed to stay.
The Shiite town of Khiam -- now an empty white swath of flattened buildings
controlled by Israel -- can be seen from the Christian village of Qlayaa.
Qlayaa's residents are effectively barred from reaching their olive groves
in the valley between. "Now another season is lost," said Hanna Daher, Qlayaa's
mayor.
A priest in Qlayaa was killed by shelling as he inspected an earlier strike,
and a father and his two children were killed in a drone strike while driving
to Qlayaa. Israel says it only targets militants.
In Jdeidat Marjayoun, a house was bombed on suspicion that militants were
using it. Rockets -- believed to be from Hezbollah -- damaged a church's dome.
In other places, solar panels, power transmitters and water stations have been
hit.
El-Cheikh fled Dibbine with her neighbors in early March after Israel warned
people to leave. In late May, following weeks of fighting, Israeli forces
raided Dibbine before withdrawing in early June.
As the fighting raged, el-Cheikh's friend, Lolitta Costantine, huddled with
her husband in their home in Jdeidat Marjayoun, and at one point stayed with
neighbors. Cracks caused by explosions run down the walls of her home. Windows
were shattered and doors knocked loose. She keeps shrapnel as a reminder of the
ordeal.
"We didn't know where the danger was coming from," Costantine said.
Tensions rise as the displaced are turned away
Shiites seeking shelter from the fighting have been turned away by those who
fear Israeli strikes or eviction, aggravating tensions that have been mostly
dormant since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
When a Qlayaa resident hosted a friend from a Shiite village in his orchard,
his house was bombed, said Daher, the mayor. Other residents have asked Shiites
seeking refuge to leave.
"We told them, we don't want problems for you or for us," Daher said.
Israel has warned Jdeidat Marjayoun's municipality not to allow in people
displaced from neighboring villages, saying it could put the town at risk or
force it to be evacuated, the municipality said on social media.
"We were forced to ask some to leave the town," said the parish priest,
Father Philip Habib Okla. "It caused many disagreements and tension," he added.
"We are counting on faith to remain united."
The Israeli military said it has warned people in parts of southern Lebanon
not to allow Hezbollah to use their villages. It said Hezbollah operates in
civilian areas, endangering residents.
During Israel's 1982-2000 occupation of southern Lebanon, the area was a
bastion of the South Lebanon Army, a mostly Christian militia working with the
Israeli military. When Israel withdrew, some of them fled to Israel while
others faced trial in Lebanon, where they were widely seen as collaborators.
Some residents worry they will be unfairly painted with that brush for
staying in their homes. Few are willing to speak of the tensions openly,
fearing retaliation by Israel or Hezbollah.
At a church visited by AP, a man shouted in exasperation that everyone had
become suspicious of each other, even among Christians. He blamed Hezbollah for
dragging Lebanon into the war, saying it had made a serious mistake.
'It is like the West Bank here'
Late one night in March, Israeli forces surrounded a building in the mostly
Sunni village of Halta. They burst in and arrested Chadi Abdel-Al, who screamed
"my heart" as he was being beaten and dragged into a van, according to his
mother, Ayesha al-Qaderi, who lives in the same building.
In the commotion, a 15-year-old relative, Mohammad Abdel-Al, ran through the
dark in his pajamas toward the house, his grandfather, Hatem, said. The Israeli
soldiers shot him dead. A neighbor, who was out on his balcony, was wounded.
The Israeli military said it had detained the commander of a local militant
group.
In a separate incident, Israeli troops detained three farmers from Halta
during a raid on a nearby village.
They are among at least eight people detained by Israeli troops since March,
according to Lebanese media. The Israeli military says they were suspected of
involvement in militant activities and plots against its troops.
"We still don't know why they kidnapped them. Maybe to instill fear in the
village and to send a message that they see everyone," said Issa Abdel-Al, the
community's leader.
"It has become like the West Bank here," he added, referring to the occupied
Palestinian territory.
Al-Qaderi, who has heard nothing about her son since he was spirited away,
said: "I just want to know his fate."
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