In the center of Beirut, which trembles at the din of Israeli bombings on its southern suburbs, the influx of displaced people from Hezbollah strongholds is causing tension and panic, awakening the demon of community tensions.
After welcoming into her apartment in Beirut a family fleeing the southern suburbs, stronghold of the Shiite movement, Christina had to ask them to leave: her neighbors feared that they belonged to Hezbollah hunted by Israel.
“Our neighbors panicked, they started asking questions,” says this 30-year-old woman who refuses to give her last name.
“There are growing tensions and suspicions towards the displaced because they belong to the same community (Shia, editor’s note) as Hezbollah,” she explains.
If this formation, the only one not to have laid down its arms after the civil war (1975-1990), enjoys immense support within its community and considerable influence on the governance of the country, many Lebanese accuse them of having dragged the country into a war with Israel.
The conflict that began a year ago with the opening by Hezbollah, an ally of Palestinian Hamas, of a front against Israel, has turned into open war since September 23, with the Israeli army shelling the strongholds of the pro-Hamas movement. Iranian in the south and east of Lebanon, and in the southern suburbs of the capital.
The bombings killed more than 1,110 people according to an AFP count based on official figures, and displaced more than a million people.
– “Bearded” –
Tens of thousands of them have flocked to the capital, crowding into schools or even sleeping in the streets.
In two weeks, the face of Beirut, which had become overcrowded, was transformed, with traffic more congested than ever and waste overflowing.
Souheir, a 58-year-old housewife, describes the fear that gripped her neighborhood after the arrival of a very religious family in the building.
The women were veiled in black from head to toe. But the family has no political affiliation, she says, “they are only religious.”
“We are seeing more and more women in chadors, bearded men and young people dressed in black, we are not used to it” in the center of Beirut, she adds.
– “Paranoia” –
“People look at each other with suspicion in the street,” she continues, admitting that she herself is overcome by the ambient paranoia.
During a visit to a friend, she saw bearded men on the balcony of an apartment housing displaced people. She cut her visit short, worried that they could be members of Hezbollah, and therefore potential targets of an Israeli strike.
Outside of Beirut, tensions have also increased, in the small multi-faith country of nearly six million inhabitants where the wounds of the civil war have still not healed.
Israeli strikes targeted displaced people outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds, such as in the village of Baadaran, in the Druze mountains.
“People rented houses to anyone at first, but now they are much more cautious,” says Imad, a 68-year-old resident of a Druze village who refuses to give his last name.
Élie, who also only wants to give his first name, says that no one in his Christian village near Beirut has rented to the displaced.
“People are afraid because we cannot know if there are members of Hezbollah among them,” the thirty-year-old told AFP. “They also fear that the displaced will settle permanently.”
– Squattors –
In Beirut, displaced people broke into empty buildings in search of shelter, reviving bad memories of the civil war which left more than 150,000 dead.
“A very small number of displaced people have occupied private property,” the police announced a few days ago, ensuring that they were working to “evacuate” them and find a solution to accommodate them.
Riad, a 60-year-old businessman living abroad, says his sister-in-law guards their apartment to avoid possible squatters.
“We experienced this in the 70s and 80s”, when armed groups grabbed properties to give them to members of their community, he says.
“Some people took ten years to get their homes back… That’s why people are panicking,” he adds. “It’s happened before, it will happen again.”
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