in Lebanon, the population between resilience and fears of a lasting crisis

While the Israeli army targets Lebanon and members of Hezbollah, the population lives in uncertainty but with a form of resignation.

​In Beirut, on the night of Sunday to Monday, for the first time, a district of the city center was hit by a strike. The attack left at least four dead according to a Lebanese security source.
Franceinfo met a resident of the city, who was there.

Cherbin is a taxi driver, he was in the Cola district, in the heart of Beirut, a little before midnight. It is a popular, lively place, which connects the airport to the rest of the capital. Cherbin lives in the Christian neighborhood of Ashrafieh, but he had just dropped off two customers when the strike took place. And it didn’t really surprise him.

“We expect anything. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a church, on the road, or in the middle of the sea. They’ll get you.”

Cherbin, taxi driver in Beirut

at franceinfo

“In Beirut, danger is everywhere. For example, if they are looking for a Hezbollah leader and he is in his car next to you, they will still target him. It doesn’t matter if you are fair next to”he explains.

Born in 1967, the year of the Six-Day War, Cherbin says he has seen others. 1982, 2006, war, chaos, he says, all this is part of everyday life here. “I was born under war. You know, once one conflict ends, another one starts only a few years later. So I’m used to it. For me, it’s almost normal”says Cherbin. Here, a question now haunts the population: how long will this situation last?

“Impossible to predict what will happen, every day is different from the last. Will the war last ? Nobody knows. It could last months, years, or it could resolve itself in a few weeks… But I really doubt it will end soon.”

As three days of national mourning begin today in Lebanon and the question of Hassan Nasrallah’s successor is raised, Cherbin wants to be pragmatic. For him, the responsibilities do not matter, because whether we like it or not, Hezbollah is part of Lebanese society. And this society must show solidarity more than ever, he says. “It’s all togetherhe asserts, that we will get through this new crisis.”