Mahmoud Chour’s dream was to build a family home in his village in South Lebanon.
A dream that, after almost a decade of sacrifice, he had finally achieved.
“He was looking forward to living peacefully with his nice family after the pain of being far away from them for a long time,” Mohamad Abouzaid, a friend and former co-worker of Chour, said in an interview. “But Israel had another plan.”
On Sunday evening, Chour’s daughters, aged just 10, 12 and 14 years old, were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Ainata, South Lebanon, alongside their grandmother. Their mother, his wife, is still in critical condition.
Chour was in the Ivory Coast for work when he heard the news. Abouzaid said his friend’s goal was to “secure a prosperous future for his family” – a family that will now never be the same after losing their three daughters.
“Words can’t express his feelings but unfortunately the world we live in right now lacks ethics, mercy, and justice,” said Abouzaid, who is a business development manager originally from Marj, a city in the Western Beqaa district of Lebanon, and now living in Saudi Arabia.
Daniel Hagari, an Israeli army spokesperson, told both Al Jazeera and the Associated Press that Israel, “examines every event that occurs in Lebanon to know the details.” They did not issue an apology for the attack on the family, according to the news reports.
Nestled beside Israel and the Palestinian territories, the Lebanese people have been inextricably pulled into the ongoing conflict. Their lives have been disrupted by the war; their peace shattered.
A Contentious History
Home to over 210,000 Palestinian refugees and now with a civilian death toll that stands at 14, no other Arab country has been more affected by the events in Israel and Gaza than Lebanon.
Israel and Lebanon have an extensive history, according to Asher Kaufman, professor of history and peace studies at Notre Dame University and a regional expert on the Middle East.
He explained Lebanon’s history through “very violent years” and described the creation of Hezbollah as a response to the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon. Kaufman said the unrelenting situation is taking its toll on Lebanese civilians.
“My mother was crying [after hearing the news of Chour’s family on Sunday evening],” said Shireen Nakhle, a member of the Lebanese diaspora living in Canada. “She made me cry on the phone when she was talking about them and telling me that maybe if tomorrow I call and she doesn’t answer, it’s probably her turn.”
“Things are not looking good, and it seems like they’re escalating,” said Alaa Yammine, a 29-year-old Lebanese citizen who currently lives in Beirut. “We’re unsure what the upcoming weeks will hold, and we’re stuck in Lebanon with no plan B, so things are worrying.”
What Happens Next?
Najib Mikati, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, has condemned the drone attack, calling it a “heinous crime.” Lebanon will file a complaint to the U.N. Security Council, but Kaufman said he doesn’t believe this will have significant political repercussions.
Mikati has cautioned against a war with Israel, and it’s a matter that’s already dividing the Lebanese people.
“It’s causing inside tension,” Yammine said. “There’s a side that wants to fight Israel (the resistance side) and another side who doesn’t want to be involved in a war that could further destroy the country. I guess the third side is just stuck in the middle, where they want to support Palestinians but are afraid of a full-scale war.”
“Most Lebanese people don’t want war; war is never a walk in the park.” Nakhle said.
This matter, however, is out of Mikati’s hands. The decision of war rests with Hezbollah, which has military hegemony in Lebanon. With further escalation still a distinct possibility, that leaves the Lebanese people living through a period of great uncertainty and unrest.
“So far, Hezbollah has stayed under the threshold of a full-scale war against Israel,” Kaufman said, adding that in his view, Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, “keeps all the doors open.”
Shortly after the attack on Chour’s family, Hezbollah fired retaliatory rockets into the northern Israel town of Kiryat Shmona. The Israeli military said one civilian died, but the AP reported that it wasn’t clear whether this was because of Hezbollah’s attack or an earlier one.
“Protecting civilians is a main pillar of the rules of engagement with the enemy,” Hezbollah legislator Ali Fayad said during the funeral of Chour’s family, Al Jazeera reported.
A regional war may be on the cards
Nasrallah has stated that the group’s principal aim is to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Kaufman said Lebanon “would be devastated as a country” if it joined the war.
“Lebanon has been in a state of economic freefall for over four years now. A war with Israel would only add to an already agonizing economic situation in Lebanon,” Kaufman said. “Infrastructure would inevitably be damaged. Recovering from such a war would be difficult. Who is going to pay to rebuild Lebanon?”
Kaufman said he also fears Lebanon could be the first to fall in a line of Levantine dominoes. He speculated that Israel could target other regions as well.
According to Kaufman, the volatility and intensity of a possible wider war is what makes this resurgence different to prior clashes. A regional war could involve additional Middle Eastern players, as well as the U.S.
“The risk of the U.S. joining this war is not small,” Kaufman said. “They have a significant military presence in the Mediterranean, and this may be why we’re seeing more caution from Hezbollah and other Middle Eastern leaders this time.”
Kaufman thinks one of the most unique facets of the current resurgence is that it blurs traditionally sectarian lines in Lebanon. The Sunni group Hamas are on the same page politically as the Shia Hezbollah and Iran. “A case of my enemy’s enemy is my friend,” Kaufman said.
Despite the complex political landscape, Lebanese civilians remain apprehensive of which direction their country will take next.
“Innocent people are dying, and nobody cares,” said Abouzaid, still mourning his friend’s family.