The BBC published a report detailing the harsh situation in southern Lebanon in the context of the war in the Middle East. In the report, the British broadcaster downplays the importance of Hezbollah´s role in the destruction of the area, and focuses mainly on the current conflict. However, if you look closely, you can see how this terrorist group has influenced the devastation of the region.
Seth Frantzman highlights in an analysis published by the Jerusalem Post that Hezbollah illegally occupies southern Lebanon and has plagued the area with all types of weapons - Lebanese and Iranian manufactured - and terrorist infrastructure.
The illegal establishment by Hezbollah in the south of the Arab country has occurred despite the fact that after the Second Lebanon War In 2006, both the UN and the Lebanese Government should have prevented the terrorist group from forming a kind of state of its own within the borders of the country of the cedars, something that, clearly, they could not, or rather did not want, to avoid.
The strengthening of Hezbollah has resulted in the terrorist group joining the war in Gaza, immediately after the massacre carried out by Hamas on October 7. The Lebanese Islamist group has launched thousands of missiles against northern Israel, which have been met by limited retaliation by the Jewish State against Hezbollah targets, which since the beginning of the war has lost more than 200 terrorists.
The BBC report shows how Hezbollah's war has driven out the inhabitants of southern Lebanon. According to the British broadcaster, more than 70 civilians have died and parts of the area have been transformed into “ghost towns” because residents have fled.
The BBC points out in its report that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that around 90,000 Lebanese have left the south of their country and 80,000 Israelis had to move away from Israel's northern border due to Hezbollah attacks and fear that the terrorist group will try to replicate the October 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas.
In his analysis, Frantzman highlights that the control exercised by the terrorist organization in southern Lebanon is so strong that it even threatens UN forces in the area, and, even though they are there with the objective of monitoring the region, they usually only move along certain roads on which Hezbollah allows them to travel. In fact, in December 2022 five terrorists from the Islamist group murdered an Irish soldier of the United Nations peacekeepers. Therefore, the author clarifies in his article that surely also Journalists are monitored by Hezbollah, which is why they can only show what the terrorist organization wants to be shown, and the BBC is no exception.
Lebanese seniors miss Lebanon's prosperity and diversity
The devastation in southern Lebanon is particularly painful because it is a region with a beauty befitting some of the world's best resorts. The wonderful landscape, which combines beautiful mountains with a beautiful sea, has been ruined by Hezbollah, which It has turned the area into a kind of open-air terrorist camp.
However, perhaps without realizing it, the BBC shows in its report the way in which Hezbollah has ruined Lebanon, especially the south of the country. In fact, one of the interviewees, a 75 year old, stated: “We are paying the price for all this.” Frantzman, with good sense, stops at this man's statement, and does not analyze it only in the context of the current war, but also points out that the old man had grown up in a time prior to the Lebanese civil war, when Lebanon was a prosperous, pleasant and diverse country, where large communities of Christians, Muslims and Druze lived together. However, the arrival of a large number of Palestinians caused terrorism to take over the south of the country to attack Israel, just as Hezbollah did decades later.
All this chaos led to a civil war which lasted 15 years (1975-1990). Syria then occupied the country until 2005, when Hezbollah assassinated the former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri.
After the Lebanon War in 1982, Israel occupied the south of the Arab country until 2000, in order to prevent terrorists (from the PLO and then Hezbollah) from launching attacks against the north of the Jewish State. However, the withdrawal of the Hebrew army did not bring peace to the region, but led to Hezbollah into arming itself and launching a war against Israel in 2006. The analyst compares this situation with the Gaza disengagement in 2005, when the Government of the Jewish State decided, unilaterally, to forcibly evacuate the Israeli communities in the Strip, in order to move towards peace. However, the decision led to the strengthening of Palestinian terrorist organizations and more attacks against Israel.
Elderly Lebanese remember a time when they were not hostages to the PLO and then Hezbollah. However, they understand that they are paying the price for the actions of these groups that they cannot oppose. “Everything was lost, the house, belongings and cars. However, I will return as soon as I can, even if I have to live there in a tent,” the 75-year-old Lebanese told the BBC.
In his article, Frantzman laments that the civilians of southern Lebanon are suffering from a war over which they have no power and are kidnapped by a group they cannot control and that has been imposed on them by the UN, international organizations and other global powers.
