MAJDAL ZUN At first glance, Majdal Zun looks like an ordinary small Lebanese village.
Then you can see a collapsed house on the side of the road. Then another. There are twenty destroyed buildings. Mattresses and parts of furniture stick out from here and there among the concrete.
Majdal Zun is located about six kilometers from the border between Lebanon and Israel. There is a conflict going on here that has been overshadowed by the war in Gaza.
The border war between the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and Israel has driven more than half of the village’s residents to flee.
Here, Israel’s strikes have so far been aimed at well-defined targets, such as individual buildings or vehicles.
The actual devastating attack is sometimes preceded by a warning shot, say the villagers.
– My son was on the roof. When the blow started he ran down. Then another missile hit. The children fainted from terror, says the widow Alia Ibrahim al-Zainwhen we meet next to a ruined building.
She says that her husband died in 1998 in an Israeli attack, and that he is a martyr.
Those who stayed in the village are not going to escape
Al-Zain’s home is standing, and he has no plans to go anywhere, even if a full-scale war breaks out on the border between Israel and Lebanon.
Hezbollah and Israel have been firing at each other across the border since October. Hezbollah says it is pressing Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened Lebanon with tough measures. Some a member of his boardt are talking about a full-scale war.
– What does Israel want from us? We live in our own country. This is also where we die. It’s a different matter if weapons were found here. We are unarmed civilians, al-Zain says.
Civilians have died in Majdal Zun, locals say.
In February, a five-year-old girl and her mother passed away.
According to Israel, it hit a nearby Hezbollah command center and the civilian casualties were likely caused by explosions of weapons stored by Hezbollah.
An unsafe village, but a defiant atmosphere
Majdal Zun feels like an unsafe place. The sound of an Israeli drone is heard from the sky, and somewhere in the distance there is an explosion.
We were first on our way to a small town nearby, but a Hezbollah representative urged us to come here. In addition, we received the contact information of the local guide.
South Lebanon is a strong support area for Hezbollah, and those who stayed in the village remember thanking Hezbollah for the fight against Israel in interviews.
The atmosphere sometimes seems defiant.
– We can handle it, we will stay here until the end. We can’t close our bakery because we cook for the residents, says the village’s baker Hasan Rashid.
According to him, the bakery is part of the front line, although sometimes the doors are closed for a short time.
– We were once gone for a couple of days, but we returned as soon as possible. We believe in God and Hezbollah. We will follow Hasan Nasrallahthe baker says, referring to the Hezbollah leader.
“We defend ourselves, even by throwing stones”
– We are not afraid of Israel anymore. We will defend ourselves, even by throwing stones, says Alia Ibrahim al-Zain, assuring her that she would rather die in the ruins than leave her home.
The conflict on the border affects civilians in both Israel and Lebanon, although the scale is different from the October terrorist attack by Hamas and the war in Gaza.
In Israel, about 1,200 people died in the terrorist attack in October, and in the subsequent war, about 37,000 people have died, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
455 people have died in Lebanon, of which almost 90 are civilians. There are about 30 dead in Israel, of which at least 11 are civilians.
About 60,000 civilians have been evacuated on the Israeli side of the border. More than 90,000 people have fled near Lebanon’s southern border.
Refugees at school in Tyre
Some of those who fled the border from the Lebanese side have ended up in the city of Tires, which is located about 20 kilometers from the border.
Many are in private accommodation, but, for example, refugees have been accommodated in the technical educational institution of Tyros.
A family from the small town of Blida across the border lives in a shared classroom with another family. The family’s escape journey has already lasted eight months.
– We think about going home every second. We will leave the moment the situation is over, says the electrician Ni’ma Daghir.
His wife Khadija Yusuf says that the family is always ready to go.
– We have a nice two-story house in the village. Hopefully we could show it to you sometime.
A tent would also do, as long as you can get home
The couple’s 11-year-old Yusuf– the boy plays in the yard of the refugee center and quickly lists the friends he misses from his hometown.
He wants to return home, and the parents in the school class have the same message: you have to get home, even if the house wasn’t even standing in front of you.
– I hope we can come back. It doesn’t matter if we have to live in a tent, Ni’ma Daghir says.
People who visited Blida have said that the couple’s house is still standing.
The municipalities of the Tyros region have established a crisis center where they try to help people fleeing the border.
The example of Gaza is frightening
According to expert estimates Hezbollah armed by Iran is a much stronger opponent than Hamas in Gaza. There could be a very destructive confrontation ahead.
Many in southern Lebanon view Gaza as a terrifying example of what war could look like.
Tyros has remained calm, but the leader of the crisis center Murtada Muhanna is worried. He says the war in Gaza shows that no place is safe.
– So far, Israel has not struck randomly in Lebanon, but on specific targets. But they can attack hospitals or other civilian objects at any time, Muhanna describes the atmosphere.
If a ceasefire is achieved in Gaza, it could also calm the situation in South Lebanon.
However, Hezbollah and Israel have a long history of hostilities. Yesterday, the attacks across the border continued with full force. Among others, a high-ranking Hezbollah commander, born in 1969, was killed Sami Abdallahwhich was also known as Abu TalebHezbollah confirmed.
Lebanese military sources described AbuTaleb as the group’s highest-ranking commander killed since the start of the Gaza war.