BBC Shadow of war with Israel looms over anxious Lebanese 21 hours ago By Hugo Bachega,

 BBC

Shadow of war with Israel looms over anxious Lebanese

21 hours ago

By Hugo Bachega, 

BBC Middle East correspondent

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Reuters Hezbollah-affiliated civil defence member sprays water at a damaged site in the aftermath of what security sources said was an Israeli drone strike in Beirut's southern suburb of Dahiyeh, Lebanon (03/01/24)Reuters

Fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has intensified in recent weeks

Two weeks ago, Hassan Nasrallah, the influential and long-time Hezbollah secretary-general, gave a televised speech from an undisclosed location in Lebanon to commemorate Taleb Abdallah, the group’s most senior official to have been killed in an Israeli strike in the current violence.

Mr Nasrallah, who spoke for about an hour, repeated that the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia and political party was not seeking an all-out war with Israel but, if there was one, they would fight “without constraints or rules”.

He also said Hezbollah had deployed “only a fraction” of its arsenal, and warned “the enemy” to “anticipate our presence on land, sea and in the air”. Surprisingly, he even threatened Cyprus, an EU member, if it allowed its territory to be used by Israel to launch attacks on the group.

Supporters, gathered in screenings organised by Hezbollah, interrupted him several times with raucous applause, chanting “Labbaika ya Nasrallah”, meaning “We’re at your service, Nasrallah”.

Not only the rhetoric appeared to be escalating. Days earlier, Hezbollah had responded to the killing on 12 June of Abdallah, also known as Abu Taleb, with a barrage of rockets targeting northern Israel. More than 200 were fired in a single day, according to the Israeli military, causing limited damage.

It was the most intense attack since the start of hostilities in October, renewing fears that the fighting could become, deliberately or by accident, a wider conflict.

EPA Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivers a speech via a screen at a memorial ceremony for Taleb Abdallah, killed in an alleged Israeli air strike (19/06/24)EPA

Hassan Nasrallah warned Hezbollah would fight "without rules" in a war with Israel

For months, the question of whether Lebanon will be dragged into another war has dominated life in this country. It is what people often describe as “the situation”, a constant backdrop casting a shadow across the whole place.

But the Lebanese have carried on, an attitude that was perfectly captured in a picture of unfazed sunbathers in Tyre last month as plumes of smoke billowed out in the distance after an Israeli strike.

Tensions, already fraught, ratcheted up further after Mr Nasrallah’s speech. As I watched him on TV, I observed through the window a man who was putting up pink-and-blue posters on walls in Ashrafieh, a trendy area in east Beirut, announcing a party.

“If we shut down our lives... the country will stop. We have to keep going,” the organiser, 35-year-old Raymonda Chamoun, told me days later. “What can we do? We’ll think about it when it happens."

"I have a grab bag [in my flat]. It’s been next to my door, with essentials. Water, first aid, power bank. My parents taught me that a long time ago, because they were born and raised during the [Lebanese civil] war.”

Hezbollah’s strikes started on 8 October, the day after the deadly Hamas attack on Israel. The group has said the campaign, in support for Palestinians amid Israel’s war against Hamas, will stop only when there is a ceasefire in Gaza. The US has led efforts for a diplomatic solution to the tensions, and both Hezbollah and Israel have indicated being interested in avoiding a major conflict. Miscalculation, however, is a real risk.

Most of the violence has remained contained to areas along the border, although Israeli strikes have increasingly hit targets deeper into Lebanon. Hezbollah attacks have also reached far into Israel. So far, more than 400 people have been reported killed in Lebanon, the vast majority Hezbollah fighters, and 25 in Israel, mostly soldiers.