“If there is no choice, then we will have to wage war”, regret the inhabitants of a kibbutz on the border with Lebanon

A vast area between Lebanon and Israel is under regular fire from the Israeli army and Hezbollah. The inhabitants have almost all left the area, except some inhabitants of a kibbutz. Franceinfo met them.

Every day, there are exchanges of fire between the Jewish state and Lebanese Hezbollah. Medium intensity combat with rockets, anti-tank missiles and artillery. At least 135 militiamen died on the Hezbollah side, nine civilians and six soldiers on the Israeli side. Tens of thousands of people were displaced in an area emptied of the majority of its inhabitants. Israel wants to allow them to return home and, if necessary, declare war on the Shiite militia.

Less than 3 kilometers from Lebanon, in Kibbutz Sassa, the top of the auditorium which adjoins the high school was hit on December 17: “Right there, you can see, it was a Kornet anti-tank missile that was launched. It came to this location and this whole space was hit.”. According to Major David Barouch, the missile arrived too quickly. It was sent too close to be intercepted by Israeli air defenses.

Pushing back Hezbollah armed forces

“Every day for three months there have been attackssays the major. Hezbollah is attacking us, we cannot accept it. Hezbollah is a member of the Lebanese government. We don’t want to destroy anything. What interests us is moving the threat away from our border“. In other words, apply resolution 17-01 of the UN Security Council: push back the armed forces of Hezbollah beyond the Litani River, a little more than thirty kilometers from the border, and therefore allow for the 65,000 to 80,000 displaced Israelis to return home.

“All that is on the horizon is Lebanonnot“, specifies Samuel. With Yaëlle, his wife, they live on this kibbutz, which is exactly 2.4 kilometers from the border. Here, for almost 50 years, they have experienced two Israeli-Lebanese wars, but for the first time they were forced to leave.

“After October 7, we were all really scared”

“It’s a bit dangerous,” she confides, stopping speaking when she hears an explosion in the distance. “Those are shots from home.”, specifies Samuel. She then continues: “The army’s order was still to evacuate the kibbutz. It’s not something that usually makes us move. We stay. This time, after October 7, we were all really afraid, suddenly, of seeing a flood of people from Hezbollah arrive and that we would be killed…“

“I am not for a war. It is terrible what is happening at the moment, but if there is no choice… In my opinion, this is what we will have to do, the push to go north”, regrets Samuel. Sassa is one of the last 300 socialist, pacifist and communal kibbutzim in Israel.

“We are people of the left. The disappointments are even greater”, slips Yaëlle. But since October 7, Yaëlle, Samuel and the majority of the village’s inhabitants have supported the war effort and definitely want to get rid of the threat of Hezbollah.