By Nohad Topalian | 2024-02-25

BEIRUT -- Hizbullah's armed presence, arsenals and fortifications in southern Lebanon, which include a network of tunnels, bunkers and guard posts, have angered local residents who are suffering the fallout from its actions.

As a direct result of Hizbullah's cross-border fire, communities in the southern border area are being exposed to retaliatory bombardment, with consequences that include displacement and loss of livelihood and lives.

Retaliatory Israeli air strikes on February 19 and 20 hit a Hizbullah weapon warehouse in Ghaziyeh, wounding 14 people. Two emergency responders were injured while putting out the blaze, which continued to burn for several days.

The Israeli army said in a statement that its "fighter jets struck two Hizbullah weapons storage facilities adjacent to the city of Sidon," AFP reported.

"The strike was carried out in response to the launch of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) toward the Lower Galilee in northern Israel," the statement said, adding that the drone was likely launched by Hizbullah earlier in the day.

A journalist from Ghaziyeh, speaking on condition of anonymity, accused Hizbullah of bringing the war to his town.

"If the two warehouses had not been a front for storing Hizbullah's weapons, they would not have been bombed," the journalist told Al-Fassel.

"We are paying the price with our lives and livelihoods for Hizbullah's storage of its weapons in our midst," he added. "We are tired of it."

On February 8, an Israeli drone targeted Hizbullah elements who were hiding near an apartment building in Nabatieh, leading to the deaths of eight members of a family, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

Hizbullah's fortifications

Residents of southern Lebanon who spoke to Al-Fassel said they are growing increasingly anxious over Hizbullah's presence and fortifications in the area, but are afraid to speak out against the group.

Hizbullah "is leading a guerrilla war," said international relations professor and political writer Khaled al-Ezzi, who is from the southern city of Nabatieh.

The Iran-backed party has "tunnels, bunkers and pillboxes in all areas in which it has a presence," he told Al-Fassel.

Hizbullah stores its missiles and weapons in warehouses and depots in residential areas, he said, and these are now being bombed in response to its attacks, which it carries out without regard for the safety of civilians.

Hizbullah's base is unhappy with the current situation, al-Ezzi said.

But people do not express that sentiment openly, he added, "because the party has brainwashed them with the propaganda that it promotes saying its missiles and weapons protect them."

Hizbullah recently presented evidence that it is using the Iranian-made Almas anti-tank missile, Iran's Tasnim News reported February 14.

Since the 2006 Israel-Hizbullah war, "Hizbullah has robustly expanded the quantity and the quality of its arsenal," Dina Arakji of the Control Risks consultancy told AFP.

"The group in 2006 reportedly had about 15,000 rockets, while estimates over the past couple of years suggest that this number has multiplied by almost 10 times," she said.

Hizbullah has built hideouts and a network of tunnels in southern Lebanon that "is likely to be extensive," Arakji said, adding that there is no indication that it has stopped constructing them.

The group says it has "precision missiles" in its arsenal, and has been using guided missiles extensively in the latest cross-border clashes.

Last August, Hizbullah announced it had a weapon designed to fire Russian Kornet anti-tank missiles. It also has unguided surface-to-surface rockets, including Katyushas, in its possession, and is using Burkan missiles, AFP reported.

It reportedly has a stock of surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship weaponry, including Chinese-made C-802 and C-704 anti-ship missiles, as well as surveillance and attack drones.

Displacement from southern villages

Cross-border exchanges since October have killed at least 271 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hizbullah fighters but also including 42 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On February 21, a woman was killed and her daughter was seriously wounded in a strike in southern Lebanon, state media said, while a hospital source told AFP a young girl also had died.

Hizbullah hit back by firing several rockets at the Matzuva kibbutz across the border in Israel.

Hizbullah's arsenals in southern Lebanon have become a target for Israeli air strikes, and local residents are paying the price, said Hussein, a villager from the Nabatieh area who asked that his name not be used out of fear of reprisals.

"Myself, my wife and my five children were forced to abandon my home and land and flee my border village that was coming under bombardment," he told Al-Fassel.

"Practically no village is safe because of the presence of Hizbullah and its weapons, and there is no place for us in which to take refuge," he said.

Another Nabatieh resident, who gave his name as just "Yassin," expressed his frustration with Hizbullah for bringing the war to southern Lebanon.

"Why and for whom did we enter the war?" he asked. "No one asked us if we wanted it. The last thing we expected was that our city would be targeted and innocent people would be killed for the party leaders' sake."

"As southerners, we incur a heavy cost in lives, material losses and widespread displacement from our homes and villages, because of Hizbullah," he said.

Losing support

Hizbullah is losing the support of its base as a result of its actions, said Ali Khalifa, who is one of the founders of the Taharror movement -- a Shia protest movement that opposes Hizbullah and involvement in the Israel-Hamas war.

"In my meetings, I sense displeasure among the Shia population due to the ongoing war in the south and the death of civilians, the exposure of their villages to bombardment and their homes and livelihoods to destruction," Khalifa said.

Lebanon's Shia are "questioning the benefit of continuing the war and the meaning of victory," he told Al-Fassel.

"Southerners know that the cost of war and displacement is huge and painful, socially and economically," he said. "But they are afraid to object loudly, because Hizbullah is spreading an atmosphere of intimidation among them."

"Even before the Nabatieh incident, we were hearing complaints from the residents of Nabatieh about the shutdown of their income-generating businesses," political activist Khalil Rayhan said.

Hizbullah's confrontation with Israel has "created a new crisis that affected all of Lebanon, not just the south," he said, adding that most people see the group's storage of weapons in southern villages as "a curse on Lebanon."