Beirut, Lebanon – On July 27, Loubna El-Amine was waiting to board a connecting flight from Romania to Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, after traveling from her family’s home in the United Kingdom. As boarding commenced, El-Amine learned that a projectile had killed 12 Druze children and young people in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel attributed responsibility for the incident to the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, which denied involvement.
The fear of how Israel would respond led El-Amine, a Lebanese-American, to discuss with her husband whether they should board the flight with their three children. Moments later, they decided to go aboard the plane. Upon arrival in Beirut, Israel launched a drone strike that killed a top Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, by hitting an apartment building in Dahiyeh, a district in southern Beirut. Simultaneously, the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed in Tehran during the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. These two assassinations have pushed the region to the brink of war, with Iran and Hezbollah promising to retaliate for the attacks.
El-Amine and her husband opted to shorten their stay in Lebanon and booked a flight to Turkey on August 10, while commercial flights are still available. “Even if there isn’t any direct danger, we had to consider whether we really wanted to expose our children to this stress,” El-Amine stated from a cafe in Hamra, a bustling area of Beirut.
She is just one of millions of Lebanese civilians grappling with life-and-death decisions, anxiously waiting to see if a larger conflict with Israel will engulf their small country, which has a population of under six million. Many are trying to live day by day despite the growing fear that a more significant conflict is imminent.
“The tensions feel different this time [after the Israeli assassination],” El-Amine said resignedly. “But part of me hopes that there might be a ceasefire tomorrow, somehow.” Since October 8, Hezbollah has been engaged in a low-intensity conflict with Israel, attempting to “reduce the pressure” on Hamas in Gaza, where Israel has killed around 40,000 people and displaced nearly the entire 2.3 million-strong population. Israel’s war against Gaza began after a Hamas-led attack on Israeli military positions on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,139 individuals.
In Lebanon, many believe that Israel is primarily responsible for the lack of a ceasefire, with a widespread perception that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government does not genuinely seek an agreement and will continue its war against Gaza, expanding it to the broader region.
Despite this uncertainty, many Lebanese feel that ongoing Western support for Israel is a moral failure. “I don’t want to leave and pay taxes to these murderers,” said Majd Akaar, a software engineer working from a cafe in Hamra. “It would also feel fundamentally wrong to leave right now, as if I were betraying Lebanon and my people.”
Akaar expressed concern over what could happen to Lebanon in the event of a regional war, describing a traumatic phone call experience with a friend in southern Lebanon who has suffered due to Israeli attacks.
Sirine Sinou, who owns a small bed and furniture store in Hamra, stated that her family has no option to leave Lebanon as they would lose their business. “We did it during the coronavirus pandemic and ended up throwing so much out,” she said. “What is written [about our fate] will happen.” In the event that Israel begins to bomb residential areas in Beirut, Sinou and her family are considering seeking refuge in their small ancestral village in northern Lebanon, far from the capital.
Assad Georges, 21, from Zahle, located about 55 kilometers from Beirut, is also determined to stay if a larger conflict breaks out. “Nothing serious is happening in Zahle right now, but we often hear bombs and sonic booms from cities to our west,” he said. “It feels as if they are preparing for something with American and British warships off the coast of Israel.”
As the situation evolves, people in Lebanon remain vigilant and concerned about what might happen next in this tumultuous region.