The Middle East has not been a stable and secure region in living memory, but tensions are higher than normal for people living there today.
The most recent click of the ratchet was, of course, the October 7, 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel in which terrorists from Gaza raped and killed more than 1,000 attendees at an outdoor music festival. Israel responded immediately by declaring wasr on Hamas, the terrorist group that is also the “legitimate” government in the Gaza strip. The ripples of this war have roiled Western countries, too, drawing dividing lines between people with otherwise similar political views.
But for those who live in the Middle East, the constant worry about being attacked is much more immediate than it is for relatively comfortable Western kids attending college protests. And Israel and Hamas are not the only combatants.
The extremist terrorist organization Hezbollah is based in Lebanon, Israel’s neighbor to the north. Last month Israel conducted a rare air assault on the capital of Beirut and killed its intended target, Fuad Shukr, Hezbollah’s top military commander. Will this intimidate Hezbollah and make them back off? Will it only further enrage the militants and spark a full hot war? These are the questions regular Lebanese people are asking themselves.
One woman who asked not to be named gave her views on what life is like for residents of Beirut as Israeli fighter jets tore across the sky at supersonic speeds, sending the whip crack of sonic booms down to the ground. She said living in the city was like “being in a toxic relationship you can’t escape.” Despite the fact that most foreigners have fled the city—many Lebanese did, too—the 30-year-old said she doesn’t want to abandon her home.
A chef at a local cafe, she said the city was her home, and she doesn’t want to go, despite the fact that she has family in other countries who could give her refuge. She and some other Beirut stalwarts take it day by day, she said, and keep their spirits up with the kind of gallows humor often found in life or death situations.
Most locals would like peace, of course. Billboards on the Beirut streets are emblazoned with messages like, “Enough, we are tired.” People remember how the 2006 war with Israel took 1,000 civilian lives in Lebanon, and only 200 Hezbollah fighters.
35-year-old Hiba Maslkhi summed up what most people probably think as she fished in the Mediterranean. She said she hopes there won’t be another war, because “Lebanon won’t be able to cope.”
