Lebanon (MNN) — As fighting intensifies in Gaza, Western diplomats try to prevent a similar escalation between Israel and Lebanon. Israeli airstrikes killed two Hezbollah members and three civilians in southern Lebanon over the weekend.
Ever since the Israel-Hamas war began, Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire along Lebanon’s southern border. Now, Israel appears to be prioritizing the targeted killings of Hezbollah militants inside Lebanon.
Tension is tangible nationwide. “So many around us [are] living with this spirit of terror like, ‘Something is going to happen to me today or tomorrow,’” Nuna with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon says.
Fear coincides with anger. “We have this division in Lebanon now against Hezbollah. You have so many people who don’t want the war [and] they’re rising up,” she continues.
“So, what will this lead to? It might be a civil war, and that would be more concerning to me than the Israel-Hezbollah war.”
Helping a refugee family “winter-proof” their home.
(Photo courtesy of TM Lebanon)
Lebanon’s last civil war, from 1975 to 1990, killed more than 100,000 people. The fallout from that war, plus the Syrian refugee crisis and all the calamities of the last five years, leave many Lebanese feeling like Job.
“We [hear] lots of questions: Why me? Why us? We had one tragedy after the other; when will it stop? Why did God allow this?” Nuna says.
“Frankly, we don’t have all the answers, but we do have one answer — we are not alone, even in the midst of tragedy. He said, ‘In this world, you will have trouble,’ but He promised that He will be with us.”
Pray believers can speak God’s peace to troubled souls.
“We cannot live under the assumption that tomorrow will be Doomsday. We have to… lift people up, those who are fearful and living under this panic,” Nuna says.
“Our job is to keep [encouraging] people and saying, ‘God is with us. He’s not against us. He’s for us.’”
Header image courtesy of Heart for Lebanon.
