Netanyahu threatens civilians: He who has a rocket in his garage will not have a home // I see the fear in my son’s eyessays a displaced person
▲ Funeral of several members of a family killed in Israeli airstrikes on Monday in the village of Saksakieh, in southern Lebanon.Photo Ap
Cosette Molijn and Tom Watling
The Independent
The newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, September 25, 2024, p. 23
Aley. Thousands of people have arrived in the town of Aley, some 19 kilometres from Beirut, after fleeing southern Lebanon, where Israel has focused its airstrikes on Hezbollah.
Schools and other buildings have been converted into shelters. Some residents even donated their apartments.said Badr Zeidan, the district governor, who is coordinating the efforts.
The number of people fleeing the bombing is still rising, he said, but is likely to have reached 10,000. We register them and distribute them in schools and vacant houses..
Nasreen and her family arrived in Aley very early yesterday morning, having barely slept. It took us 13 hours to get from Qana to Ghaziyeh, a journey that normally takes one hour.the woman declared to The Independent. After that, it still took us seven hours to get to Aley. We arrived at 3 am.
At first he wanted to stay in his family home, thinking that reports of an upsurge in attacks were the same as always.
But they started attacking the hills behind us, and the bombings were getting closer and closer. We could smell the bombs. Then we started seeing the traffic jams. My children panicked and started crying, and we decided to leave.
A grueling journey
The trip to Beirut was exhausting. People were panicking, we had no food or water, and we saw missiles hitting villages and buildings around us when we were stuck in traffic. Ambulances couldn’t get through, it was unbearable.he narrated.
Israel’s attacks – to which Hezbollah responded with dozens of rockets – continued yesterday, with the death toll reaching at least 558 and more than 1,800 wounded in the two days, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, an authority separate from Hezbollah. The toll includes 50 children and 94 women.
The ministry added that the vast majority Of those killed were unarmed civilians and their families. Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, also confirmed that two UN employees were killed in Monday’s attacks.
At least six people have been killed in another airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon’s health minister said, and more than 12 have been wounded. The Israeli military said it killed Ibrahim Qubaisi, whom it identified as a commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missile force.
Israel has called on civilians to evacuate areas near Hezbollah sites where weapons are stored, but residents are unaware that they are nearby. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will continue to attack Hezbollah targets and urged citizens to escape the control of the militant group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
He who has a missile in his living room and a rocket in his garage will not have a home.Netanyahu said at an army base at an undisclosed location, after the military said it had found ammunition in homes.
“Our war is not with you, our war is with Hezbollah. Nasrallah is taking you to the edge of the abyss… Get away from Nasrallah’s control, for your own good.”
The events have brought an already smoldering region to the brink of full-scale war, and there are fears the attack could be a precursor to an Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon. The threat of open warfare has grown in recent weeks after a year of cross-border fire, sparked by Israel’s war with another Iranian-backed group, Hamas, in Gaza.
In Aley, food, milk and medicine are urgently needed
In Aley, an official helping to coordinate the Lebanese relief effort, Laura Mukhtar abu Hassan, said families are arriving in groups of up to 50 people. People are in very bad conditions. They need food, diapers and milk for the children and they do not have the medicines they need.he explained, showing a long list of urgently required medications.
Lebanese Jadi Hassan Abdallah fled Maarakeh, some 80 kilometres south of Beirut, and is also hoping to be sheltered by his family. A friend of my son died in the fire in a nearby village yesterday. I see the fear in my son’s eyes.he said. He believes that this is possibly the beginning of a month-long war.
Abdallah did not pack anything before leaving with his and his brother’s family. We only bring the clothes on our backsadded: T-shirt, shorts and sandals. Those close to Hezbollah were warned to evacuate, but we have nothing nearby, so we thought we could stay. Then we saw missiles everywhere near our house..
He is worried about where they will spend the next few weeks and how they will make money. I sell second-hand clothes, and if I don’t work, I have no income.he added.
He recalled the 2006 war, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon in a large-scale offensive that lasted a month. At that time I was in the south too and fled to Syria. We were very well received there. But now the situation is much more serious. There are more missiles and they destroy everything. They even bombed our neighbor. We know him well and he is not with Hezbollah. All he does is grow tobacco..
© The Independent
Translation: Jorge Anaya
