Christians and Druze are reluctant to take sides
Shelling pounds surrounding hills, and neighbouring towns have been left in ruins, yet Qleia has been largely unscathed.
Christian villages across Lebanon’s mainly Shi’ite Muslim south have been spared the death and destruction wrought by Israeli warplanes since fighting broke out July 12.
Israel yesterday targeted bridges for the first time in the Christian heartland north of the capital. Four civilians were killed and 10 wounded in the air strikes in Jounieh, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
As a rule, Christians in southern Lebanon have little sympathy for Hezbollah.
The region’s Druze and Sunni Muslims are split into pro and anti-Hezbollah factions, while support for the guerrillas is nearly universal among Shi’ites.
These views are coming into sharp focus as Israel prepares to expand its ground offensive to take control of an area 32 kilometres deep inside Lebanon to reduce the threat from Hezbollah’s rockets, hundreds of which have fallen on Israel in the past three weeks.
That prospect is stirring feelings thought to have been buried with the end of Israel’s 18-year occupation of a south Lebanon border strip in 2000. Israel withdrew from the area in the face of mounting casualties caused by Hezbollah attacks.
During the years of occupation, thousands of southern Lebanese — Christians, Druze and Shi’ites alike — joined a local militia that fought along the Israelis against Hezbollah. Many more took jobs in Israel, earning wages twice or more what they made at home.
This time around, many of Lebanon’s Christians and Druze are reluctant to take sides, with memories of Israel hurriedly abandoning them in 2000 still fresh, and the duration of any new Israeli occupation uncertain.
