By Nohad Topalian | 2024-03-22

BEIRUT -- By bombing northern Israel and the Golan Heights and storing weapons throughout the Bekaa Valley, Hizbullah has exposed the area to Israeli air strikes, party opponents and local residents said.

Hizbullah shows no concern for the lives and livelihoods of local residents, the majority of whom are farmers, and is making the country's ongoing economic crisis much worse for them, they told Al-Fassel.

On March 11 and 12, parts of the northern Bekaa Valley, including the towns of Ansar, Shmustar, Saraain and Dhour al-Ayroun, were pummeled by a series of Israeli air strikes.

The strikes, which came in response to Hizbullah's firing of more than 100 Katyusha rockets towards northern Israel, targeted a three-story building on the international road near al-Musawi Company, and a factory in Nabi Sheet.

All the targets were in the vicinity of the city of Baalbek in the northern Bekaa Valley, a Hizbullah stronghold.

Civilians pay the price

"Hizbullah was not satisfied with opening the front in the south, destroying its villages and wiping out its agricultural economy," said a resident of one of the towns that was targeted with air strikes, who gave his name as simply "Ali."

"Here it is today, pulling Israel toward us, not caring about our lives and livelihood that sustain us," he told Al-Fassel, adding that they are facing serious problems in disposing of their agricultural production.

Furthermore, he added, Hizbullah "stores its weapons in our midst and uses us as human shields."

"We are paying the price for Hizbullah's actions in service of its Iranian agenda," said Jamal, a resident of a town that was hit by air strikes, who also spoke on condition that his full name not be used.

"We cannot voice our objections out loud for fear of being killed," he said. "People today live in real fear of our areas being repeatedly targeted, at a time when Hizbullah does not show any concern about that."

Political science researcher and lecturer Ahmed Yassin told Al-Fassel that he holds Hizbullah "responsible for Israel carrying out raids on the populated villages of the northern Bekaa Valley."

"In actuality, most of the people of the northern Bekaa Valley do not support Hizbullah," he said.

Resentment of Hizbullah's actions is running high among local residents, he said, "and it surged higher after the area came under air strikes."

Hizbullah's weapon depots

Hizbullah's weapon depots are the likely reason for the raids, Yassin said.

This is why the area around Dar Al Amal University Hospital in the town of Douris was targeted, he said, as Hizbullah stores its weapons beneath it.

Hizbullah stores its weapons in every city of the Baalbek district, from Douris and Ayn Bourday to Hermel, he said, as well as in mosques and husseiniyahs.

"It also stores its weapons and large missiles high on the eastern slope of the western Lebanon mountain range, starting from the heights of the town of Bednayel to the Beisan valley on the Lebanese-Syrian border," he said.

Hizbullah also stores weapons in the villages and towns of the eastern Lebanon mountain range, where the area's heavy vegetation helps to conceal the sites.

A carpet factory in Nabi Sheet owned by a local family serves as a façade for one such depot, he said, noting that it is "actually a factory for military manufacturing, including the manufacture of small missiles."

Psychological blow to party

Israeli air strikes in the Bekaa Valley "will paralyze the Bekaa as a whole due to the fear of repeat strikes," said political writer George al-Aqouri, a resident of the town of Deir al-Ahmar in the valley's north.

"This will have an adverse impact on economic activity, and will leave citizens unsure how to travel on international roads after they were targeted in the raids," he told Al-Fassel.

The concern is that if the situation worsens, this would in turn prevent the transport of agricultural crops, the area's primary source of livelihood.

Al-Aqouri said the Israeli raids in Baalbek have struck a psychological blow to the party, as the area is a Hizbullah stronghold and "the cradle from which Hizbullah emerged."

"It also constitutes a practical blow to the party's military sites, because the Baalbek-Hermel region contains many training camps, weapon depots and party headquarters," he said.