the confidences of residents of Beirut, who fear a general conflagration in the Middle East

The infamous “escalation” of the war appears to be continuing. Tuesday, October 1, the Israeli army reported “violent fighting” in southern Lebanon, after a night marked by land operations ” limited“against Hezbollah on the other side. The Israeli army thus announced, despite warnings from the international community, that ground troops had crossed the border to carry out raids”limited, localized and targeted“against”terrorist targets and infrastructure” of Hezbollah, in Lebanese villages.

After the devastating blow inflicted on the Shiite armed group with the assassination of its leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday in an Israeli strike near Beirut, Israeli leaders had warned that the war was not over against the pro-Iranian movement, enemy of Israel. The Israeli army said in a statement:these targets are located in villages near the border and pose an immediate threat to Israeli communities in northern Israel“, she assured, without specifying the number of soldiers involved in this incursion.

Further away in Beirut, whose southern suburbs are shaken by Israeli bombings, the awakening is painful. With one fear: that total war will break out, once again. In the evening from Monday to Tuesday, several strikes once again targeted the southern districts of the Lebanese capital, the stronghold of Hezbollah. According to Lebanese security sources, there were at least six Israeli strikes overnight.

In the neighborhood Christian from Achrafieh, east of Beirut, the latest news makes us fear the worst. Ilyi, a resident, says he is appalled by the situation his country finds itself in: “Poor Lebanon… It’s so sad. Our managers are incompetent, it’s because of them that we are here“, he blurted out, bitter. He aimed directly at the “Party of God” which, since its creation in 1982, has, according to him, continued to put the security of the country in danger: “Our country was already in ruins. And because of them, it will be even worse“.

A “country in ruins“, this is also what Adam*, 35 years old, a soldier in the Lebanese army, denounces. It was over coffee, seated with friends on the terrace of a café in Beirut, that we met if the Lebanese army is, for the moment, not involved in the conflict, this soldier tells us that he no longer has hope for his country: “War is not good for anyone. You know, when one country invades another to take everything from them, there’s nothing good about it. No one thinks about the future anymore, everyone lives day by day.”

“There is nothing to do, no work, no income… We are already dead. So, no one is afraid since we are already dead anyway in Lebanon. The war just makes things worse difficult. And yes, we are ready to fight.

Adam, a Lebanese soldier

at franceinfo

For the day of Monday September 30 alone, the country recorded 95 deaths. Over the past fortnight, Israeli strikes across Lebanon have killed more than a thousand civilians and forced more than a million Lebanese to flee their homes.

*The first name has been changed