\n<\/p>\n
Beirut, Lebanon \u2013<\/strong> In the Palestinian refugee camp of Burj al-Barajneh, two men stood on opposite balconies, discussing the recent Israeli attack that killed a senior Hezbollah operative just over a kilometre away from where they were standing.<\/p>\n A year earlier, the areas around the camp, which is located in Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs, were devastated by Israeli attacks. While the camp was not hit directly, the buildings shook so badly from nearby bunker buster bombs that many fled out of fear they might collapse.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Last November\u2019s ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, after a year of conflict, brought a reprieve for many here, even though Israeli attacks continue across the south and parts of eastern Lebanon\u2019s Bekaa Valley. Sunday\u2019s attack, however, has left many in the country worried that another intensification may soon take place.<\/p>\n Standing on his balcony, a man in his mid-30s called over to his neighbour, \u201cDo you think they\u2019ll launch a wider war?\u201d<\/p>\n The other, a stocky man with greying hair, shrugged with uncertainty. \u201cMay God protect us,\u201d he said, before turning around and heading inside his apartment.<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s war left deep scars on Lebanon.<\/p>\n Many villages in the south were razed to the ground during the fighting, while others suffered heavily from Israeli destruction during the ceasefire period. More than 4,000 people in Lebanon have been killed since October 2023, mostly from September to November of last year, and more than 1.2 million people were displaced. Many have yet to return to their homes, even a year later. The World Bank estimated Israel left Lebanon with approximately $11bn in needs for reconstruction and recovery.<\/p>\n The war also left Hezbollah, a Lebanese political and military group, badly weakened. In August, under United States and Israeli pressure, the Lebanese government approved a plan to have the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) disarm the group. But the group has rejected calls for its disarmament based on Israel\u2019s failure to uphold its side of the ceasefire. Israel has not withdrawn from at least five points it occupies in south Lebanon, nor has it stopped its near-daily attacks on the country\u2019s territory, killing more than 120 civilians since last year\u2019s ceasefire was announced.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, this latest attack has come amid warnings from Israeli officials and reports in the country\u2019s media of a military escalation in Lebanon. Israeli officials claim Hezbollah is regrouping and blame the Lebanese government and LAF for failing to move quickly enough to disarm the group.<\/p>\n Senior Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qomati said the latest strike crossed a \u201cred line\u201d and that the party\u2019s leadership was considering a response.<\/p>\n Analysts, however, say the group is not currently in a position to attack Israel. In addition to its losses as an organisation, Lebanon\u2019s Shia Muslim population, the sect from which it derives the majority of its support, also suffered from the indiscriminate nature of Israel\u2019s attacks, and many fear the return of the war.<\/p>\n \u201cRetaliation by Hezbollah would be suicide with no military or political value,\u201d Michael Young, a Lebanese analyst and writer, told Al Jazeera. Young said the Israelis could be \u201coverplaying the threat\u201d of Hezbollah\u2019s regrouping, giving themselves a latitude to do what they want in retaliation to Hezbollah\u201d.<\/p>\n Last Friday, President Joseph Aoun said Lebanon is willing to sit with Israel in internationally-sponsored negotiations. It wasn\u2019t enough to stop Israel\u2019s attack last Sunday.<\/p>\n The atmosphere has left many in Lebanon deeply fearful of another round of intense Israeli attacks.<\/p>\n \u201cThings are very bad, unfortunately,\u201d Khaled Muhanaya, a Syrian man living in Beirut\u2019s Basta neighbourhood, an area that suffered numerous Israeli attacks last year, told Al Jazeera. \u201cPeople are afraid to see a new war from Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am worried about anything happening to my family. My kids are afraid to sleep alone.\u201d<\/p>\n In Burj al-Barajneh, some locals showed bravado in the face of increased attacks.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are used to this,\u201d said Ali, a barber in his mid-20s, as he sat outside his barbershop.<\/p>\n Ali was at his shop when Israel hit the Haret Hreik neighbourhood on Sunday. He said the attack wasn\u2019t as loud as many locals heard during last year\u2019s war.<\/p>\n Still, Ali and others said the recent Israeli attack on Lebanon\u2019s largest refugee camp, Ein el-Hilweh, that killed 13 people, including 11 children, had people speculating that Israel could target other camps, including Burj al-Barajneh.<\/p>\n The brunt of the war\u2019s damage, however, was done, and is still being done, in south Lebanon.<\/p>\n Parts of the south are still inaccessible to locals. Attempts to access such areas have been met by Israeli military aggression, including gunfire from the five occupied points.<\/p>\n Ali Noureddine is from a southern town called al-Habbariyeh, where seven young first responders were killed in an Israeli strike in March 2024. He told Al Jazeera that his town is filled with displaced people from villages closer to the border who cannot access their homes.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are areas [in the south] that are practically empty,\u201d Noureddine said.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day and every night there are drones in the sky and warplanes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n There are areas, however, where people have returned and started to rebuild their lives. Many have sunk their savings into repairing their homes. But that doesn\u2019t mean the fear has left them.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are afraid at night,\u201d he said. And not just of air strikes. \u201cThey feel that at any moment the Israelis might enter again.\u201d<\/p>\n Talk of war is everywhere in Lebanon. Should an intensified war come, some southerners say they won\u2019t leave their land again this time. Many have invested their remaining finances into rebuilding or repairing their homes. Others dread going through the living conditions they experienced during the war, such as living in shelters or tents.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are afraid of the idea that they will leave again because they suffered a lot during the war,\u201d Noureddine said.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, if there\u2019s another war again, people will be very devastated, and it will be much more difficult than the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Beirut, Lebanon \u2013 In the Palestinian refugee camp of Burj al-Barajneh, two men stood on opposite balconies, discussing the recent Israeli attack that killed a senior Hezbollah operative just over a kilometre away from where they were standing. A year earlier, the areas around the camp, which is located in Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs, were devastated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Retaliation would be suicide<\/h2>\n
\u2018We are used to this\u2019<\/h2>\n
Parts of the south \u2018practically empty\u2019<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"