Unmut über die Hizbollah in Beirut

Bis heute morgen sah es so aus, als würde sich die Hizbollah aus dem Krieg diesmal heraushalten. Das hat sich inzwischen geändert und nachdem sie einige Raketen und Drohnen nach Nordisrael abgefeuert hatte, reagierte die israelische Luftwaffe umgehend.

Seitdem sind im Libanon wieder Tausende auf der Flucht aus den Städten, während die Israelis Ziele im Süden des Landes und in Beirut bombardieren.

Von dort berichtet für den Guardian William Christou und ganz offenbar sind die meisten Bewohner der Stadt gar nicht einverstanden mit dem, was die Hizbollah da gerade macht:

By Monday evening, at least 52 people had been killed and 29,000 were displaced to emergency shelters, numbers that were expected to increase, the country’s ministry of social affairs said.

In Beirut, anger boiled over Hezbollah’s decision to enter the war with Israel, and drag the rest of the country with it.

“I was so, so upset when I learned we had entered the war. We are exhausted from all these wars,” Abu Yehya said. “Us adults, we will die when we die, but our children are a different story. They are frightened.”

As he spoke from Martyrs’ Square in Beirut, families tried to sleep under the harsh morning sun, crowded together on thin foam mattresses. Passenger vans stuffed with blankets and suitcases clogged the streets, women with furrowed brows staring out at the city.

The scenes were eerily similar to 18 months earlier, when an Israeli campaign of bombing and the detonation of Hezbollah pagers sent people into the streets and overwhelmed hospitals. Then, the shock of the assault brought a sense of solidarity to the country: blood banks had lines out the door and health authorities had to issue a statement saying donations of vital organs, including eyes, were not medically possible.

This time, the assault was met with a sense of weary resignation and smouldering anger.

Even among the popular base of the group, the self-titled “community” of Hezbollah supporters, Hezbollah’s entry into the war provoked shock.

A woman from the Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs of Beirut, who declined to give her name, said: “For two years Israel has been bombing Lebanon and Hezbollah has not replied even once. Now, Iran is bombed for two days and they burn the whole country for them? They don’t care about Lebanon.”

For weeks, Lebanese officials had passed warnings to Hezbollah that if it entered the war with Israel on the side of Iran, the entire country would suffer. Hezbollah, in turn, had reassured Lebanese officials that it would stand behind the state’s decision to stay out of the war.

The group’s decision to bomb Israel anyway created a deep sense of betrayal in the Lebanese government and particularly the Lebanese armed forces, both of which felt they were misled.