By Noemí Jabois
Beirut (EFE).- A couple of hundred people gathered in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday to commemorate the anniversary of the end of the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, which lasted from 1982 to 2000, and the anniversary coincides with a new invasion of the region in 2026.
Maysaa Alaeddine, an attendee of the Hezbollah-organized event held in honor of Resistance and Liberation Day, recalled the hardships endured by southern Lebanon’s population «from the moment Israel arrived» four decades ago.
«The Israelis came every day. There were seven of us girls, and my mother rented a house for us in Majdal Selem, a town in the south. She took us there to sleep,» said the woman, who is originally from the border areas.
Rejection of disarmament
Alaeddine explained that Hezbollah did not yet exist during the initial stage of the occupation; the militant movement was created in response to it shortly thereafter.
«We never felt safe or tranquil until the Resistance appeared. Until those young people spilled their blood and began to fight while we slept soundly and warmly under our blankets in our houses,» she said.
A quarter of a century after the end of the invasion, Hezbollah faces a renewed Israeli presence in at least 68 southern Lebanese villages, which are also the target of daily bombings despite the April ceasefire agreement between the two countries.
The technical truce aims to pave the way for negotiations to find a long-term solution. The disarmament of the Lebanese militant group is Israel’s main demand, and the Lebanese government has been trying to implement it since last summer.
Alaeddine criticized the attempts to disarm Hezbollah and does not trust the state to defend Lebanon because she accuses it of being sold to the United States, the promoter of ongoing talks with Israel.
«My house in the south was destroyed. It was a two-story duplex that I had just built. Let everything be a sacrifice for the Resistance: me, my children, my house, my assets, and everything I have,» she said.
Before the Israeli army entered the country in the current war that began in March, Lebanon had already experienced occupations of various sizes in 1978, 1982, 1985, 2006, and 2024.
Another young participant, displaced from the southern city of Nabatieh, said he would have no problem if the official security forces fought alongside Hezbollah; however, he considers that no one will be able to disarm the Lebanese group.
«If they disarm Hezbollah, the state will not protect us. They cannot fight or go against Israel; they do what the US says,» the man who lost his house in the conflict told EFE on Monday.
Anti-government sentiment
Many residents of southern Lebanon feel abandoned by the authorities. Displaced from their homes for the second time in just over a year, they have still received no reconstruction aid after the last war.
For some, disappointment mixes with anger over the decision to negotiate with Israel.
«Those who have no honor or spirit of sacrifice are those who speak and negotiate; those who shake hands with the enemy and the US. They are the traitors,» said Hayat Berro, another attendee at the Liberation Day commemoration, in statements to EFE.
«Don’t be afraid of the external enemy; fear the inner one. That is the real traitor, the one who sits with you at the same table, pretending that nothing is happening,» she added.
Hezbollah has repeatedly criticized the direct talks taking place in Washington and asked the Lebanese government to replace them with an alternative process.
Amidst the waving of the movement’s flags and photographs of its former leader, Hassan Nasrallah, one supporter, who identified himself as «Kifah,» refuses to acknowledge the meetings between the two countries.
«It is an entity that usurped Palestine and expelled a whole people from their land. How could we negotiate or reach agreements with an entity whose origin is illegitimate?» he said in a suburb of the capital.
«This is not just a conflict; it’s an existential battle between them and us. A battle of existence, not borders,» he concluded.EFE
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