The Lebanese Christian village on the border with Israel that escapes the shelling: ‘This is safer than Beirut’

El pais ^ | JUN 17, 2024 | Antonio Pita

[Cronos]

The road runs through southern Lebanon, parallel to Israel. It is dangerous to travel through the area: the Israeli army can open fire on those vehicles it suspects are being driven incognito by Hezbollah militiamen. Every few miles, one sees houses destroyed by Israeli shelling and photos of martyrs that point to the weight of history in these lands: some are casualties of the crossfire with Israel in parallel to the offensive in the Gaza Strip (Hezbollah acknowledges more than 340 fighters killed); others, faded by time, date from the 1980s and 1990s, when Israel occupied southern Lebanon, involuntarily giving rise to the now powerful Shia party-militia.

Suddenly, in a matter of hundreds of meters, the yellow flags of Hezbollah and green flags of Amal (the other Shia faction), and messages in Arabic such as “Every Muslim must prepare to fight Israel” or “This Lebanon is the best weapon against Israel,” disappear. Mosques give way to churches and sculptures of the Virgin Mary and, of course, of the monk-hermit Saint Charbel, the patron saint of Lebanon who is omnipresent in the Maronite areas. The private school belongs to the Antonine sisters and the stores no longer bear names written in Arabic, such as Ali or Mohamed, but Chez George or Manucure Danielle, in French.

...The village is called Rmeish (with various spellings), and had about 5,000 inhabitants before the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah flared up

...Wadia, 36, retains enough customers to keep his hair salon open in the square. “I didn’t close even on October 8. Nor on the 9th, nor on the 10th... This is safer than Beirut. The only thing I’m afraid of is that a party missile will fall here. The Israelis are more accurate.

[Cronos]