Lebanese torn between fear and defiance as hostilities spike in Hezbollah-Israel conflict

Lebanese citizens in Beirut were torn between fear of escalation and defiance on Friday (September 20), as hostilities spiked in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. Israeli warplanes carried out late on Thursday (September 19) their most intense strikes on southern Lebanon in nearly a year of war, heightening the conflict between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah amid calls for restraint. The intense barrage followed attacks earlier in the week attributed by Lebanon and Hezbollah to Israel that blew up Hezbollah radios and pagers, killing 37 people and wounding about 3,000 in Lebanon. Hezbollah chief Hassan Sayyed Nasrallah said on Thursday (September 19) the attacks on his group's communications devices blamed on Israel will be met with "just punishment." "We are now living in war, and whatever happens, we are with them and not against them - we are with the resistors defending Lebanon," said Lebanese citizen, Kassem Khamism. According to Lebanon's health ministry, the detonations killed 25 and injured more than 608 on Wednesday (September 18) in Beirut's suburbs and the Bekaa Valley, while the death toll from Tuesday's (September 17) explosions was 12. "We are scared - there is no doubt. I do not usually go places that are too far, I am scared to go far from my area and house," said retired Lebanese, Chafic Chehab. The two sides have been fighting across the Lebanese border since the Gaza conflict erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, fuelling fears of a wider Middle East war that could drag in the United States and Iran. (Production: Ahmad Al-Kerdi, Walid Saleh, Abir Al Ahmar)