Hundreds of passionate Hezbollah supporters gathered in the bustling streets of Beirut late Sunday afternoon, undeterred by the escalating threats from Israeli politicians. The Israeli government has accused Hezbollah of orchestrating the tragic massacre of young football players in the Golan Heights, but the Lebanese group and its supporters remain steadfast in their denial.
“We don’t fear death,” one Hezbollah loyalist declared resolutely. “We don’t care even if we all die. We don’t care.”
Rather than being intimidated, the threats from their Israeli neighbors seem to have only bolstered the supporters’ resolve. Hezbollah has vehemently denied any involvement in the rocket attack on a remote, predominantly Arab Druze town in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights. The supporters we spoke to echoed this denial with unwavering conviction.
“If Hezbollah wanted to bomb civilians,” a young woman named Rawda Kassem asserted, “they would bomb in Israel… why would Hezbollah want to make conflict between Arabs… I don’t believe this story.”
Hezbollah, designated as a terrorist organization by several countries including the United States and the United Kingdom, has been launching attacks inside Israel since October 8. They claim to be supporting Palestinians in Gaza and pushing for a ceasefire. Israel has responded with about four times as many cross-border strikes inside Lebanon, leading to a tit-for-tat escalation that has forced nearly 200,000 people on both sides of the border to flee their homes.
The football pitch attack and Israel’s insistence that Hezbollah orchestrated it mark the most serious escalation in nearly 10 months of exchanges, primarily along the border areas. Diplomatic efforts are now frantic, aiming to avert an all-out war that threatens to engulf the region.
In an interview with Sky News, Lebanon’s foreign minister Abdullah Bouhabib called for an independent investigation and warned Israel against mounting widespread attacks on the country.
Any attack on Lebanon is an attack on the Lebanese,” he cautioned. “There’s no difference between Lebanese and Hezbollah. Most of the fighting is going to be with Hezbollah… but it will be supported by most Lebanese, not because we like war but because Israel is attacking Lebanon and we cannot accept it.”
