By Nohad Topalian | 2024-09-25

BEIRUT -- Though Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah pledged, in a televised address broadcast September 19, to continue to fight on the southern front, many in Lebanon have strongly voiced their objection.

In his speech, delivered after explosions targeted the party's pagers and two-way radios, Nasrallah said Hizbullah's intentions "did not waver or falter after the detonations" and he vowed to continue the fight.

"Where is Nasrallah taking us?" lamented citizen Jamil Salameh to the owner of a vegetable shop in Beirut's Achrafieh neighborhood, who is a Shia from the Bekaa Valley, as a number of customers agreed.

"I ask myself the same question," the shop owner said. "We are tired of his wars and Iran's wars on our land."

"I do not want my children who are preparing for their future to live our bitter experience," Salameh said, pointing to the August 2020 Beirut port explosion and a list of previous conflicts.

"It is Iran's war that is declared by its coddled agent Hassan Nasrallah, and it is time for Lebanon to be liberated from the wars of others and for Hizbullah to realize that it has brought nothing but calamities to the country," he said.

Lebanon is thirsty for peace, Salameh said.

"Enough with the wanton wars that kill your youth for the sake of Iran," he added, admonishing Nasrallah.

"Return to Lebanon and your Lebanese identity, have mercy on your base, which is paying a high price."

'We are against war'

Political activist Reem Sahmarany urged Nasrallah not to drag Lebanon into war.

Sahmarany told Al-Fassel she left Lebanon for Türkiye in despair following the Beirut port explosion and the ongoing economic crisis.

"I decided to return to start my own business and contribute to the development of the country," the 30-year-old said. "But it seems there are those who want to keep us at zero, and this is what I do not accept."

"Yes, we are against war," Sahmarany said.

"The words of Iran's favorite agent, Hassan Nasrallah, are unacceptable, because we do not trust him or Iran, which acts according to its geopolitical interests, not to liberate Palestine and support Lebanon, but to destroy it and its people."

"Nasrallah will not liberate Palestine and will not protect Lebanon, but will take Lebanon to hell and destroy it," she warned.

"We are deeply traumatized, and the complexes that our parents have passed on to us because of the wars they have lived through, we will pass on to our children and future generations."

"It is time to stop this absurd war that will only reap more destruction for Lebanon and the Lebanese people."