In the debris of the Hezbollah manor bombed by Israel: “We have been beaten for centuries and are standing” | international

Access to the debris is still difficult due to persistent black smoke. It emerged from the remains of four residential buildings bombed on the same morning by Israeli military aviation. What seemed unthinkable a week ago has now become an everyday occurrence in Dahiye, a former city of people, cars and motorcycles south of Beirut. There is a flock that looks almost like ghosts. Every night, Avijai Adri, the Israeli military’s Arabic-speaking spokesman, distributes three maps with properties marked and orders those living nearby to leave immediately and move at least half a kilometer away. Half an hour later the bombardment begins, which is visible from the capital. The crater created here due to the collapse of buildings a few hours ago is very big. A fire engine moves forward to extinguish the fire.

This is the new reality of Dahiya that Hezbollah – it is its fiefdom – wanted to show with a visit to the press this Wednesday, in which it tried to send a message of strength after the biggest attacks in its four-decade history. this is the first Travel Who has been roaming in different parts of Dahiya since the beginning of the bombing. And – since this is an unusual call and entering Hezbollah’s fiefdom as an independent journalist means, in these sensitive days, being viewed as a potential spy – dozens of national and international media joined the trip. Has happened.

All the shops on the streets are closed. In addition to the buildings that were attacked (some burned, but remained standing; others turned into piles of cement, furniture, and equipment), traces of the shock waves could also be seen on sidewalks and facades. Broken window panes on the ground, vehicles that were left parked by someone and are now completely ruined, awnings half burnt, shutters of shops twisted by the explosion… Party (of God, Hezbollah meaning) Flags bearing the face of Hassan Nasrallah, whose leader was assassinated by Israel the previous week, and a phrase: “We will surely be victorious” were placed on the debris.

Amidst the bombed-out buildings, you barely see people and, of course, very few families. In recent days thousands of people have hastily abandoned it and sought refuge in the Beirut area or other parts of the country. They live poorly, mainly in the apartments of acquaintances (or strangers who help them) and in schools converted into shelters, or they have fled Syria or Iraq.

In this TravelOne is the official speech (prepared) and the other is one that comes more spontaneously from the hearts of young people in the region, who have, at the very least, obvious sympathy for Hezbollah. Some people take advantage of the presence of cameras and climb walls to insult Israel. This anger is also directed against Arab countries, which are considered complicit (by action or inaction) in the genocide in Gaza. “Someday they will regret it, when they realize that we are the first line of defense against the Zionist enemy,” says Ismail al-Najjar, a researcher and journalist very close to Hezbollah. Here, what is respected is Iran, the great ally that has just launched 200 missiles against Israel – among other reasons – in revenge for Nasrallah’s death and the bombing of Lebanon. In fact, on the same night, when videos of missile attacks on military targets in Israel began to be broadcast, without being intercepted by anti-missile defense systems, celebratory shots fired into the air at Dahiya could be heard in the surrounding area. Was.

Hezbollah’s media manager, Mohammad Afifi, attends the trip and emphasizes the two views, precisely because many doubt they are true. One, the situation of beheaded and infiltrator Hezbollah. “Our forces are ready. “We have enough weapons and enough ammunition to deal with the enemy.” Second: Once Israel completes its effort to re-order the Middle East, who will pay for all this. “We will make it even more beautiful and better than before,” he said in front of a building reduced to rubble. This is what happened after the 2006 war, but Hezbollah, Iran, and the region in general were different.

A “valiant fight”

Afif also said this because he had an ace up his sleeve. He assured that “resistance fighters” had fought a few hours earlier “a heroic battle” with Israeli troops in two towns in the south of the country, Adaiseh and Maroun al Ras, the “results of which we will see and which will lead to a good state of affairs”. Proves the health of the militia. The Israeli military did not comment on the issue at the time, but announced the deaths of eight soldiers in the ambush. This is a high number (significantly lower than the fighting with Hamas in Gaza and in line with the 2006 war in which Hezbollah ended as the moral winner). Even more so on the second day of ground infiltration. “This is just the beginning,” threatened Afif.

Hossein Mortada, a well-known journalist close to Hezbollah and other resistance groups in the Middle East, picked up the damaged lens of a camera from the debris of the building that housed the headquarters of Al Sirat (a pro-Hezbollah television station). Emphasize that, after all, it was a means of communication between residents and citizens. The Israeli military claims that the militia had stored weapons under the building.

Bilal Soulani, another neighbor who supports the militia, points to two sites to make clear that Hezbollah outnumbers its members. One, a heart, and it says: “Hezbollah is here.” Then, the smoking sinkhole over which the bombed buildings stood, and he adds: “Not there.”

Ali Qasim also proudly says that he has four children and has put them all “in the service of the resistance”. “This thing of taking hits and rising up we’ve been doing since the days of Karbala,” he says, referring to the Iraqi city, which experienced a key battle in the 7th century in the division within Islam between Shias – like him. Had done. And Sunni. “Yes, the Israelis have the aircraft and technology. But now that they have entered the South, I hope they get what they deserve.

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