Beirut (Lebanon) – Gray smoke rises from the Shiite stronghold of Dahieh, a southern suburb of Beirut hit by Israeli bombs. On the roof of the hotel, which dominates the area, a girl who lives in those parts comes running. «I can’t take it anymore. The Lebanese are not all with Hezbollah” he snaps. «I hate them. It’s not my war. I live in a mixed area: the Israelis bomb the Shiites, but we are afraid too.” In front of the camera, however, he does not speak for fear of reprisals. Christians, Sunnis and even Shiites not in line with Hezbollah would like to put an end to the “state within the state” of Tehran’s Janissaries.
Nobody seems capable of reversing the situation, but Panorama has traveled extensively in Lebanon among those who are raising their heads. Achrafieh is the neighborhood of east Beirut, which during the civil war was the last Christian redoubt attacked by everyone. In Piazza Sassin there is a large white statue of the Madonna and a group of friends are playing backgammon. «Since the end of that conflict, in 1990, all the militias have handed over their weapons to the government, apart from Hezbollah. This is why we are against them” explains Joe Haddad, silver cross around his neck and gun in his waist. «If in Italy the yellow flags (of the armed Shiite Party, ed.) are flying in the square» he underlines, «I remember that when the Syrians were massacring us no one demonstrated for us in Europe».
Tabaris is the “border” line with west Beirut, the Muslim area of the capital. Traffic is continuous, but at the time of the civil war there was only a dead silence interrupted by sniper fire. Gaby Abousleiman, an accomplished lawyer, commanded the defense lines of Sector 10 along Tabaris as a young man. “With the rocket launches after October 7, they gave Israel every possible pretext to attack Lebanon,” he observes. “This is a failed state that can’t even buy tents for displaced people.” Every morning he trains for an hour in martial arts and at home he still keeps Bashir Gemayel’s rifle and Phalangist uniform. “The civil war will not return because we are too weak and the state is in the hands of Hezbollah” he cuts short, disillusioned. «Other than a message of peace as the Pope says, Lebanon’s only message is that different communities cannot live together. The only solution would be to separate once and for all by returning to the Switzerland of the East”. Many displaced people from the Christian villages of the south, a battlefield between Hezbollah and the Israeli army, find hospitality in the homes of relatives and friends in Achrafieh. Thereza Shoufani has gray hair and a dull look. Her daughter Amalia fled from Rmaish, one step away from the Blue Line, the temporary border between Lebanon and Israel.
«The last 15 days I couldn’t sleep because of the bombs on both sides, artillery, drones, rockets” he says in front of the image of a Maronite saint. “Father Naijb al Amil gathered people in church saying that from the apostolic nunciature in Beirut they assured that the Israelis would not attack the village if Hezbollah was not there.”
Seven thousand souls, all Christians, but the Shiite militiamen “tried to enter to launch the rockets, taking cover between our houses, but the population resisted with force”. Her husband Elias, a former police officer, remained in Rmaish where we reach him by phone. “We are terrified, they are bombing all around us day and night,” he says, before the line goes down. Once communication has been restored, Thereza is afraid to talk about the Party of God, but at a certain point she lets herself go: «If they want to fight Israel and support Gaza it is their war, not ours. We only want peace and instead they are destroying the country.”
The hairpin bends climb the mountains north of Beirut to Merab, the stronghold of the Lebanese Forces, the strongest Christian opposition party. A double checkpoint guards the “wolf’s den”, Samir Geagea, one of the strongmen of the civil war, prisoner for 11 years in the dungeons of the Ministry of Defense, when the Syrians were in command in Beirut. At the second checkpoint, armed young men in khaki uniforms, under the command of a couple of veterans, carry out meticulous checks. The Lebanese forces could mobilize 12 thousand militiamen and among the forests of Merab, in addition to the leader’s armored residence, there would be bases and arsenals. On October 12, Geagea brought together the “liberators” who want to disarm Hezbollah. About eighty politicians and influential people, almost all Christians, such as Camille Chamoun, the nephew of the second Lebanese president.
Sami Gemayel of the Kataeb party is missing and among Muslims only the former Sunni general, Ashraf Rifi, stands out, who countered Syrian and Iranian influence with military intelligence. A character who does not take half measures: «We don’t agree with Hezbollah and we don’t like them. They are part of the Tehran regime, but we will put an end to Iranian power in Lebanon.” Geagea, gray beard, tired with age, remains lucid in launching the appeal signed by everyone: “Today Lebanon is a sinking ship without a captain.” The Merab Carbonari conclave aims at a “road map” for the ceasefire, but also the election of the president who by constitution must be Christian. Hassan Nasrallah, the long-serving leader of Hezbollah, blocked the nomination for two years before being eliminated because he wanted to impose his own candidate, Soleiman Frangieh. Now the United States and France are focusing on Joseph Aoun, chief of staff of the Lebanese armed forces. “A president who grants the Lebanese army all necessary powers to ensure that no weapons or security organizations exist outside the control of the state,” the statement reads, “in defense of Lebanon.” And the UN resolutions are expressly cited which should have already imposed the disarmament of the militias and the withdrawal of Hezbollah north of the Litani river away from the border with Israel.
A challenge to Hezbollah which has made the area an underground stronghold, under the noses of the UN peacekeepers. It is no coincidence that in the main square of Sidon, a southern coastal city, there is a blow-up of Geagea, branded as a Zionist agent, dominated by the Star of David. «Free yourselves from Hezbollah. Today it is weak. You are at a crossroads, the choice is yours. You can regain control of the country and put it back on a path of peace and prosperity” is the appeal launched directly in English by Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. «Although weakened by the decimation of the leaders, Hezbollah is still strong and has 50 thousand men and another 15 thousand in reserve» explains a Western source to Panorama in Beirut. “There is a risk of clashes with the Lebanese forces and others opposed to the excessive Shiite power, but people do not want to return to the nightmare of civil war.”
The young deputy secretary general of the Lebanese Forces, Jade Dimien, reiterates that «Hezbollah has decided, in accordance with Iran’s interests, to go to war. We must have one army, the Lebanese Armed Forces. The main problem is that the Party of God is a true internal state, which eliminates those who oppose it such as Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.” On the journey north, on the anti-Hezbollah front, an obligatory stop is Tripoli, the Sunni stronghold. At the entrance to the city, the large photo of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader killed in Tehran by the Israelis, is striking. The capital is a mix of Sunni and Syrian groups, often armed and at war with each other. Last October 4, an Israeli raid eliminated the commander of the Al Qassam brigades of Hamas, in charge of recruitment, Saeed Atallah Ali, in the Palestinian camp of Bedawi in Tripoli with his entire family.
«Hezbollah is not just a “state within a state”, as is commonly stated. It has become the state itself and Lebanon is a front nation that has become a satellite of Iran” is convinced Misbah Ahdab, an independent Sunni parliamentarian for 13 years, who welcomes us into his home. «Hezbollah must be disarmed. They must hand over their weapons to the Lebanese army, which represents legitimacy. Thus Nethanyahu would no longer have the pretext to bomb Lebanon” he explains in perfect Italian. Tripoli «is an explosive cocktail that can detonate at any moment».
Young Iraqi volunteers aged between 18 and 23 continually arrive from the nearby Syrian border, sent by Shiite armed groups in Iraq to lend support to their Lebanese co-religionists. “A few days ago I wrote a tweet saying that Hezbollah should hand over their weapons,” says the former deputy. «Three hundred thousand views and many calls from Tripoli people who share my words».
The Israeli attack resulted in the arrival of 150 thousand displaced people in the area, both Shiites and Syrians, who fled to Lebanon from the civil war in their country. In the fascinating Arabian Nights souk, no one wants to talk, apart from a courageous Italian teacher Maher Awad. “People are afraid of three things,” he explains. «The first time some Hezbollah infiltrator arrives in the north together with the displaced people, attracting Israeli bombing». The representative of moderate civil society adds that «the second concerns the demographic change of Tripoli, a Sunni stronghold. We fear the increase in Shiite presence and influence in the city.” The third aspect, simple but decisive «is that people are afraid of Hezbollah. This is why no one wants to talk.”
