SOUTH LEBANON - "The resistance [Hezbollah] protects the country, but the
country is the victim of the resistance." So read Arabic-language pamphlets
dropped by air all over south Lebanon.
"The purpose behind the message is to ask people to leave southern Lebanon so
that Israel and Hezbollah can be left to fight face-to-face against each
other," Abbas Hussain told Asia Times Online. Members of his family were among
the more than 50 killed in an Israeli air strike on the town of Qana on Sunday.
"A few days before the bombing, flyers were dropped which clearly warned the
people to leave Qana at once, otherwise they would be victims," Abbas said.
Tragically, though, many people either did not heed the warning or did not have
the time or means
to leave.
Israel declared a 48-hour cessation of aerial strikes (only partially
followed) as a result of widespread international condemnation of the Qana
debacle, and people have now taken the opportunity to flee to safer areas.
Roads across the south are clogged with traffic as long lines of refugees leave
southern towns.
"I
have been operating this hospital for many years and have provided aid to the
victims of Israeli raids since the mid-1990s, but the way Israel came up with
the latest attacks, people now have to leave their places at all costs," Dr
Jawad Mahmood Najam told Asia Times Online. Najam is a surgeon and qualified
from a university of Egypt. He runs the 80-bed Najam Hospital near Qana.
The long haul
Despite the brief respite from Israeli air strikes, the first in the three
weeks since hostilities began, the consensus on the ground is that the war is
still in its early stages and that both Israel and Hezbollah are prepared for a
long struggle.
People Asia Times Online spoke to familiar with Hezbollah say that long before
the systematic destruction of southern Lebanon began, Hezbollah men had begun
leaving their villages and towns. Al-Amal (a former Shi'ite militia and now a
political party) took over their administrative duties.
The men headed for the mountains of Bint Jubail, Maroon, Ras, Yaroon, Marjayoun
and Taibeh, where Hezbollah has concentrated its foot soldiers to take on
Israeli ground forces.
"This is the initial phase of the war," said Abu Jehad, who met with Asia Times
Online at a village near Tyre. Jehad called himself an ordinary servant of the ummah
(Muslim nation). But his flawless English and the powerful container truck in
which he was riding hinted at something else. "Just food supplies from north
Lebanon," he said.
"Hezbollah has proved that it is competent. We have already fired rockets deep
into Israel and inflicted casualties on them, which no Arab nation has done in
the many Arab-Israeli wars," Jehad said.
"But those were just symbolic attacks on Israel as they were drawing lines for
war and we were drawing our lines. Once the real war breaks out, then Israel
will come out with its full power. Then we will show them what long-range
missiles are all about and how they can hit precise targets deep inside
Israel," Jehad said.
"This is just the beginning. In fact, we have been waiting for Israeli
aggression, knowing that Israel will never tolerate a major regional power,
which Hezbollah is.
"Soldiers have been kidnapping and released before; why did Israel overreact
this time [to the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers that set off the latest
fighting]? Seven of our villages are still under occupation of Israel, and
according to the UN we have the right to resist.
"They overreacted because they were already prepared for a war and just
searching for a chance. Hezbollah is not naive, it knew the Israeli plan, so we
had a counter-strategy ready to implement," Jehad maintained.
Jehad's view that the war will intensify is supported by numerous people who
spoke to Asia Times Online. Indeed, the Israeli cabinet on Tuesday unanimously
approved "widening" ground operations. In response, "Hezbollah will escalate
attacks against Israel", said Ali Fayyad, a senior member of the group's
central council. Many also expressed concern that Syria and Iran would be drawn
into the conflict.
In the first phase of its attacks in the south, Israel has inflicted telling
damage. Apart from shattered infrastructure, international trade has dried up
and oil reserves are almost exhausted, causing the price of gasoline to double.
Long queues at gas stations indicate signs of trouble to come, and during the
night there are strict instructions to keep all road lights off.
The lights are slowly going out over the Middle East.
