As the spectre of a major war looms over Lebanon, civilians are bracing for the worst-case scenario
\n Beirut, Lebanon
\nLoubna El-Amine was waiting to board a connecting flight from Romania to Lebanon\u2019s capital Beirut, having travelled from her family\u2019s home in the United Kingdom.
\nAs boarding started, El-Amine received news that a projectile had killed 12 Druze children and young people in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel blamed the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which denied responsibility for the incident.
\nFearing how Israel would respond, El-Amine, a Lebanese-American, discussed with her husband whether to board with their three children or not.
\nMoments later, they got on the plane.
\nShortly after they arrived in Beirut, Israel assassinated one of Hezbollah\u2019s top commanders, Fuad Shukr, by launching a rocket into a residential building in Dahiyeh, a district in southern Beirut. They then killed Hamas\u2019s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Iran\u2019s capital Tehran during the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian.
\nBoth assassinations have pushed the region to the brink of an all-out war. Iran and Hezbollah have both vowed to retaliate against Israel, likely via a coordinated attack alongside other Iranian-allied armed groups in the region, analysts have previously told Al Jazeera.
\nThe shadow of a major war has compelled El-Amine and her husband to cut their trip short and book a flight to Turkey for August 10, while some commercial flights are still available.
\n\u201cEven if there doesn\u2019t end up being direct danger, we had to think if we really wanted to put our children through this level of stress,\u201d El-Amine, 40, told Al Jazeera from a cafe in Hamra, a bustling district in Beirut.
\nFear and rage
\nEl-Amine is one of millions of Lebanese civilians wrestling with life-and-death decisions as they wait anxiously to see if a major conflict with Israel will devour their tiny country, which has under six million people and lies to Israel\u2019s north.
\nMany are trying to live day-to-day despite the growing fear that a broader conflict is imminent, while also holding faint hope that regional tensions won\u2019t boil over.
\n\u201cThe tensions feel different this time [since the Israeli assassination],\u201d El-Amine said, in resignation. \u201cBut a part of me hopes that maybe there will be a ceasefire tomorrow, somehow.\u201d
\nSince October 8, Hezbollah has engaged Israel in a low-level conflict in a stated attempt to \u201creduce pressure\u201d on Hamas in Gaza, where Israel has killed about 40,000 people and displaced nearly the entire 2.3 million population.
\nIsrael\u2019s war on Gaza began after a Hamas-led attack on Israeli military outposts and communities on October 7, in which 1,139 people were killed and 250 were taken captive.
\nHezbollah has repeatedly promised to stop attacking Israel if a ceasefire is secured in Gaza, but despite negotiations ongoing for months, no deal has been agreed.
\nIn Lebanon, the blame for that is largely placed on Israel, with the perception that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government does not actually want an agreement, and wants to continue the war in Gaza, and expand it to the wider region.
\nIn light of that, many Lebanese civilians see continued Western support for Israel as a moral failure and cannot bring themselves to escape to Europe or North America.
\n\u201cI do not want to go and pay taxes to these murderers,\u201d said Majd Akaar, a software engineer working from a cafe in Hamra. \u201cIt would also feel very wrong on a fundamental level to leave right now, as if I\u2019m abandoning Lebanon and my people.\u201d
\nAkaar acknowledged that he has some trepidation about what could befall Lebanon in a regional war. He described a recent traumatising call with a friend in south Lebanon, which has suffered the brunt of Israel\u2019s attacks since October.
\nThey were on a video call when his friend showed him an ordnance that fell near his home and then suddenly exploded.
\n\u201cI remember just hearing her screaming. I panicked until she called me back 10 minutes later,\u201d recalled Akaar, 36.
\nResignation
\nIn a small bedding and furniture store on the corner of Hamra Street, Sirine Sinou said that her family can\u2019t possibly leave Lebanon or else they will lose their business.
\nShe added that her husband and two children are not taking major precautions \u2013 such as buying food or house supplies in bulk \u2013 in case a larger war breaks out.
\n\u201cWe did that during the coronavirus [COVID-19 pandemic] and then we ended up throwing out so much stuff,\u201d she told media.
\n \u201cWhatever is written [our fate], is going to happen.\u201d
\nIn the event that Israel begins bombing neighbourhoods and civilian structures in Beirut \u2013 a strategy Israel calls the \u201cDahiya doctrine\u201d in reference to the Dahiyeh\/Dahiya neighbourhood, and which it used in the 2006 war against Hezbollah \u2013 then Sinou and her family may head to their small ancestral village in north Lebanon, which is far from the capital.
\nAssad Georges, 21, is another who says he is staying put in his hometown of Zahle \u2013 which is about 55 kilometres (34 miles) from Beirut \u2013 if a major conflict erupts.
\nOn Monday afternoon, he spoke to Al Jazeera while waiting with his girlfriend to have lunch with his parents in Hamra. They held hands as Georges spoke about the terrifying sounds of war that he frequently hears in his town.
\n\u201cThere is nothing too serious happening in Zahle now, but we do often hear bombs and sonic booms hitting towns to the west of us,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.
\nMinutes before his parents walked into the restaurant, Georges said that civilians have been on edge for months due to the cycle of tensions mounting and then simmering down.
\nHowever, he does believe that a wider conflict now looms over Lebanon.
\n\u201cWith the US and UK sending warships [to the coast of Israel], it feels like they are preparing for something to happen,\u201d he said, clasping his girlfriend\u2019s hand.
\n\u201cNow that Israel is almost finished in Gaza, I think their next plan is to try and get rid of Hezbollah.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the spectre of a major war looms over Lebanon, civilians are bracing for the worst-case scenario Beirut, Lebanon Loubna El-Amine was waiting to board a connecting flight from Romania to Lebanon\u2019s capital Beirut, having travelled from her family\u2019s home in the United Kingdom. As boarding started, El-Amine received news that a projectile had killed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-423289","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n