At times it moves away from the edge, at times it gets closer. In constantly dancing so close to the abyss, the specter of regional conflagration could stumble. Since Oct. 8, when Hezbollah joined forces with Hamas in Israel's war against Gaza, the flames of the conflict have come dangerously close to encircling Lebanon.
The Party of God has always played a zero-sum game against Israel at the expense of our small country. A large part of Hezbollah's community has followed the animosity with enthusiasm in the years since the 2006 war. The quasi genocidal cruelty deployed by the Israeli army in Gaza can only evoke unconditional sympathy for Palestinians, despite the atrocities and massive hostage-taking committed by Hamas nine months ago during the raid on the Israeli village of Be’eri and the Nova music festival.
But the total destruction of Gaza, ongoing since then, and the tens of thousands of deaths, half of which are young children, the indescribable suffering, the lack of everything — food, water, hygiene, medical equipment, the spread of epidemics like polio and dermatitis... This toll, incomparable to the Be’eri raid, is enough to disgust any decent human being.
That said, by opening the Lebanese front, Hezbollah only adds more deaths to the dead and more suffering to the suffering. Can it be said that a single Palestinian life has been saved by the party’s bombings in northern Israel? Did the two young Lebanese, Hassan and Amira, collateral victims of Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur, have to pay the price of the criminal overbidding between the two entities?
Once again, Lebanon is involuntarily on the brink, oscillating as usual between the burning south of the country — and now the southern suburbs of Beirut — and the summer festivities that continue, hardly darkened by a thin layer of anxiety. From concerts to performances, little has been renounced.
War here is something like a long-simmering volcano whose smoke plumes are now given little regard. Since the spectacle of an Iranian attack on Israel on the night of April 13, 2024 — an impressive deployment of various missiles and drones that announced the end of the world only to end up as damp squibs — most people in Lebanon have decided not to let this nerve-racking tension consume them anymore.
War or no war? Leave or stay to enjoy the season, friendship, the toxic tenderness of families? Leave or endlessly contemplate the blooming of the moon behind the mountain, wait for the Perseid meteor shower, smell the sage wafting by the streams? Or endlessly watch the hypnotic breathing of the sea, the wild colors of dusk, or be lulled by the chatter, the too-loud music that numbs all survival instincts, the soft skins of fleeting loves that are never truly fleeting?
Weight on one foot, while the other wants to flee, we feel incapable of turning our backs on everything that holds us here. So we stay, just a little longer, a tiny bit longer, right? Like a child trying to snatch a few more minutes before leaving the pool. And if misfortune were to strike, we would always find a way to turn it into a bouquet of flowers. This country may be a lie, but it is surely the most beautiful illusion.