The explosion of an Israeli bomb near the entrance to the Roman ruins of Baalbek was so deafening that Umm Hussein, who hid in a nearby church, could still hear it ringing in her ears days later. was.
It was so powerful that it shattered the windows of all the buildings in the area and pierced the bodies of relatives and neighbors with glass. It was so powerful that it flew over the church kitchen where my 7-year-old daughter was brushing her teeth before bed.
“I thought we were all going to die,” the young mother of four has said since Israel began intensive bombing of Lebanon in late September. echoed throughout the dark church hall where dozens of people lived.
“Maybe it would have been better to die than to live like this,” Umm Hussein said, looking at the thin mattresses piled in the corner and the family’s few scattered belongings.
She is among the thousands of Baalbek residents who remained in Baalbek despite Israeli calls to evacuate the city more than two weeks ago, when the air force began raining a relentless barrage of fire on the ancient city. There is only one person.
Baalbek and the wider Bekaa Valley were largely spared when cross-border hostilities erupted between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon more than a year ago. But in recent weeks, Israel has increasingly looked eastward, ravaging a fertile but impoverished region known for its agriculture, vineyards and Roman temples.
Hezbollah was founded here 40 years ago and receives support from the Shiite-majority communities that live in the plains and rely on its patronage. The Bekaa River’s proximity to the Syrian border makes it a strategic corridor for weapons, contraband and military personnel between Lebanon and its Hezbollah allies in Syria, Iraq and Iran.
Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah fighters, weapons and military infrastructure to destroy Hezbollah’s capabilities, and also claims fuel depots and border crossings with Syria are being used for arming. . The Jewish state says its aim is to ensure the return of its 60,000 residents to their homes in northern Israel, who were displaced by Hezbollah rocket fire that began after a Hamas attack from Gaza on October 7 last year. It states that this is true.
The Financial Times recently visited Baalbek and several neighboring villages along the Bekaa River and found chaos and devastation on every corner, with roads and villages littered with destroyed buildings and knee-high ruins. I saw piles of rubble in the area covered in pockmarks, and residents had long since been evacuated.
The FT visited the site of Israeli airstrikes on the Bekaa River several times with the help of Hezbollah. Officials were present for some of the visits but did not arrange, supervise, or participate in any interviews or review any reports.
Baalbek is a city that has been inhabited for the past 11,000 years. souk The market is deserted, with most shops, cafes and restaurants shuttered. Only about 30 percent of Baalbek’s original population of 100,000 remains.
“There is no one on the streets where people know Hezbollah exists or has offices,” said Ali al-Asidi, 52, a sweet shop owner.
Those who remain have no other means of transportation or social networks, he said. “When bombs fall, we hunker down and pray for survival, and when it’s quiet we come out of hiding. What else are we supposed to do?”
Asidi gave a speech in front of Baalbek Fortress. Its 2,000-year-old stone walls were blackened with ash from the explosion that targeted the Ottoman-era building and destroyed the adjacent visitor parking lot earlier this month. He had been parading a herd of goats through the rubble, which had been his only source of income since Baalbek. souk Closed.
Umm Hussein, who returned to nearby St. Barbara’s Greek Melkite Church, agreed: Israel is ruthless. They won’t say you can go back to area X because it’s safe. They just randomly hit their goals. ”
Most of the 106 people taking shelter in the church are Shiite Muslims who have fled from other parts of the city. Father Marwan Maalouf, a native of the Greek archdiocese of Melkite, opened the building to evacuating families when the first attacks hit Baalbek and all available spaces were filled. On a bad day, that number can swell to 300.
In the absence of government assistance, he was able to provide food and shelter to his guests with the help of NGOs and local volunteers. His Muslim guests even help at Mass, replacing the regular volunteers who fled long ago.
“Muslim, Christian, it doesn’t matter. We are all brothers and it is our duty to protect each other,” Father Marwan said.
Like most people running informal shelters across the country, where some of the 1 million people displaced by war are housed, Father Marwan said he had been trying to find out if there were any links to Hezbollah. , said it was using military intelligence to screen new arrivals. “Israel will use any pretext to target anywhere. I don’t want to be held responsible for the massacre here,” he said.
Most strikes occur without warning and result in significant destruction and increased civilian death tolls.
There have been around 32 airstrikes across the region in the past 10 days, killing at least 62 people. In some cases, multiple generations of families were wiped out, their bodies found scattered.
The relentless pace of attacks has overwhelmed health workers, who say the majority of casualties they have treated so far are children and women.
“This happens every day. You hear planes and drones, then one or two loud thumps, then the screams of people trapped under rubble, multiple times a day, seven days a week. It’s been going on for days,” said one rescue worker. He jumped into an ambulance and headed to the scene of a nearby strike.
Last Thursday night, an Israeli airstrike on a civil defense center in the town of Duris killed 15 emergency workers and five bystanders, bringing the total number of emergency workers killed by Israel to more than 200. Most were killed in the past two months. A rescue worker said, “We’ll probably be killed soon too.”
In Navitit, the hometown of Hezbollah’s first leader and co-founder Abbas al-Musawi, local officials said at least 36 people had been killed in more than 105 Israeli airstrikes since September. Most of its 16,000 residents were gone, and the village was silent except for the wails of ambulance sirens.
Local officials said most of the targets in the first weeks of attacks were Hezbollah military infrastructure and weapons. Since then, however, Israel has primarily targeted civilian areas, such as homes and apartment complexes.
“Our boys are not the only ones being killed on the southern front,” village chief Hassan al-Musawi said, referring to locals who went to fight for Hezbollah near the Israeli border. . “There are men, women and children dying in their homes and in evacuation centers.”
Israel denies targeting non-combatants and accuses Hezbollah of infiltrating civilian areas. Some Lebanese officials acknowledged that Hezbollah civilians were killed in strikes on homes. “They are usually low-ranking or mid-level and have special expertise in some aspect.” [Hizbollah’s] operation,” said one of the people, who is not affiliated with the group.
Ali al-Mussawi, a neighbor and tuk-tuk rickshaw driver, said he believes one of the two men next door killed, his house damaged and his family injured in the airstrike is a low-ranking member of Hezbollah. he said. “Even if that were the case, how could this enemy justify killing even one civilian for this man?” he said.
Rather, the majority of people here believe that attacks on civilians undermine the morale of Lebanon’s Shiite Muslim community, which is a deep supporter of Hezbollah and depends on its vast social welfare network. I believe it is aimed at.
“The enemy does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. It’s all about putting pressure on Shiites and putting pressure on Shiites. [Hizbollah] Surrender,” Hassan al-Mousawi said. “But we are used to making sacrifices. We have made many martyrs for this cause and we are steadfast. Victory is ours, no matter what the cost. It’s a thing.”
Cartography by Stephen Barnard. Additional reporting by Sobhiya Najjar
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