The case in summary There have been daily military operations between Hezbollah and the IDF since 8 October last year. 76,000 have left their homes from the Lebanese border towns, 80,000 on the Israeli side. When news first spoke to Lebanese Omar from Kfar Chouba, he was convinced that he was going to stay in his hometown, no matter what happens. On 10 January there is an attack in Kfar Chouba, close to where Omar lives, which means that Omar has to flee. A Hezbollah soldier is killed in the attack. Hezbollah is in opposition to Israel, along with Iran, Hamas and the Houthis in Yemen. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. The border towns in southern Lebanon are empty of people. If you get close enough to the border, you can hear the sound of missiles being fired and the bombs falling. Hezbollah and the Israeli army (IDF) have been carrying out daily military operations against each other since 8 October last year. 76,000 have left their homes from the Lebanese border towns, 80,000 on the Israeli side. 27-year-old Omar was one of those who wanted to stay, no matter what. Photo: PRIVATE 27-year-old Omar was going to stay in the south, no matter what. He does not wish to have his full name in print, but news knows his name. When news first spoke to Omar, at the beginning of January, he was clear that he was not going to evacuate. Instead, he looks after the empty houses in the village, and cleans up after Israeli attacks. “Hezbollah is inside your house” Omar comes from the tiny Lebanese border town of Kfar Chouba. The vast majority of residents have evacuated to the north, to relatives. Although the IDF has attacked the village several times, Omar insisted on staying: – I was born here. This is my home. He tells about when Israeli planes dropped leaflets over the village: – “Hezbollah is inside your houses”, they said. A few days later, the IDF attacked a house on the hill. The residents interpreted the contents as a warning that the IDF would attack the houses in the village. Photo: PRIVat – The window on my house broke, and I started to bleed from the nose. Probably from the pressure that followed the explosion. The IDF does not wish to answer the question of whether it was they who were behind the leaflet. Just before the New Year, the IDF attacked a house in the border town of Bint Jbeil, southwest of Kfar Chouba. A Hezbollah soldier, his brother and his brother’s wife were inside the house, and were all killed together. Omar said that he was of course concerned that something like this would happen in his village. – Things can be repaired and be as before, but the dead never come back. An Israeli attack just outside the Lebanese village of Kfar Chouba earlier this autumn. Since then, the IDF has attacked some of the houses in the village. Photo: Mohammad Zaatari / AP – Expected that Hezbollah would have to intervene together with Iran, Hamas and the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah is also built on anti-Western values and hatred of the state of Israel. One of their core values is to oppose Israel and to support the Palestinians. Toufoul Abou-Hodeib, senior lecturer at UiO, believes that Hezbollah is now in a predicament. They must intervene in the war on the Palestinian side, but avoid escalating the conflict with Lebanon, where 80 percent live in poverty. Photo: UiO Tofoul Abou-Hodeib is associate professor of contemporary history in the Middle East at the University of Oslo. She has been researching Lebanon for over 20 years, and believes that because of these values, there was an expectation that Hezbollah would have to intervene on the Palestinian side when the war broke out again on 7 October: – When the leader, Hassan Nasrallah, held a speech on November 3, he declared that their attack in the north of Israel will ease the pressure on Gaza. But Hezbollah does not exist only to support the Palestinians. The organization was initially created to fight against Israel in southern Lebanon already during the civil war in 1982. When the war was over, the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continued. – Could have been me The attack on the house on the hill did not scare Omar away. However, that will change on the night of Wednesday. An Israeli plane attacked a short distance from Omar’s house. One Hezbollah soldier was killed. A Hezbollah soldier lost his life in the attack in the village of Kfar Chouba. Photo: PRIVATE – I am in shock. It could just as well have been me, Omar told news the following day. Now he left the village as one of the very last, he says. – There is nothing else to do here anymore. The whole situation is terrible.
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Refugees from southern Lebanon after Israeli attacks – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
