Beirut resident Danny Elias wrote about his fear that the Israeli response to Hezbollah’s deadly attack on Majdal Shams will lead to an all-out war in a special column translated [to Hebrew] by Ynet journalist Smadar Perry.

“Yesterday, when I arrived with my wife and two daughters at the Rafik al-Hariri airport (the one named after our former prime minister, who was assassinated by Syria and Hezbollah), we were surprised to learn that our flight was canceled. Not only our flight, which we had planned for many months but dozens of other flights as well.”

“My son, the youngest of my three children, asks me why the flight is delayed – and I searched for the words to explain. We planned a vacation, and we have to go back home, and there aren’t even taxis. The Lebanese love to escape so much. The fear is that Israel will bomb Lebanon’s only international airport. My wife tells me that we are in good shape compared to those who flew yesterday and the day before. They boarded the flights – but no one can guarantee when they will return.”

“This situation of ‘not a war’ was imposed on my friends and me. We do not belong to Hezbollah, are not involved in wars against Israel, lead a routine life in Beirut. The truth is that since October 8, when the first missile flew from southern Lebanon, we fear getting involved in a military campaign that we have nothing to do with. This is a dangerous adventure that will harm the precarious economic situation in Lebanon. How will we survive it? And I ask myself, why did Hezbollah suddenly decide to ‘volunteer’ for the war in Gaza? Explain to us, to the citizens of Lebanon, what they want?”

“Some think that what is happening in southern Lebanon is just talk – as the real war continues in Gaza. But some see a darker future. Those who think that the war will reach Beirut and are angry at the decision of one side – Hezbollah – to declare a war (not a war) that civilian Lebanon has no interest in entering. The unifying line between all Lebanese, of all ethnicities, is that they lead their daily lives without planning – because what would be the use of planning? Plan, build, and in one moment everything will be destroyed.”

“We Lebanese hear from our relatives about what is happening in the villages of southern Lebanon. They tell of a terrible destruction the likes of which they haven’t seen in previous wars. Most of them run away – or ran away – to the villages in the Tyre area, and some go as far as Beirut if there is a family that will take them in. They tell about the noise of the Israeli planes that reaches as far as Beirut, a noise that I’ve also heard.”

“The residents of southern Lebanon convince themselves that Hezbollah will compensate for the damage caused to their property – the destruction of houses, the herds that escaped or were killed, and the destroyed fields. But among themselves, as I witnessed, they curse Hezbollah who dragged them into war and drove them out of their villages.”

“There are Lebanese who believe that eventually we’ll get out of the Iranian mud, that the political climate will change. They think that Lebanon will emerge from the war differently – I don’t believe that.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)