April 11, 2025
Roqayah Chamseddine
The failure of the Lebanese government to protect against Israeli attacks is leading Lebanon down two roads: either Hezbollah will re-enter the war in defense of the Lebanese people, or the government will prevail and content itself to sit back.
Roqayah Chamseddine
The failure of the Lebanese government to protect against Israeli attacks is leading Lebanon down two roads: either Hezbollah will re-enter the war in defense of the Lebanese people, or the government will prevail and content itself to sit back.
On March 28, Beirut’s southern Dahiya suburb was targeted with four Israeli airstrikes on the neighborhood of Hadath — the first attack on Beirut since the truce in November 2024. A residential building, which housed a number of Lebanese families, was left completely flattened by the airstrikes.
“The entire building is gone. The only thing left is cement and glass,” a local business owner told Mondoweiss. “We were sitting with our grandchildren when we heard the airstrikes and saw people running and screaming.” Hours later, smoke still billowed from the ash and rubble as recovery efforts continued.
Residents of Hadath communicated a sense of unease that existed among residents of Dahiya, even before the airstrikes. One woman explained that Israel’s ongoing attacks against South Lebanon were never far from people’s minds. “Many of us felt as though this attack was inevitable, and that Israel wouldn’t spare Dahiya. The ceasefire doesn’t exist for South Lebanon, and it doesn’t exist for the people of the suburb. Where any of our people exist, Israel sees a target.”
Before dawn on April 1, these words seemed almost prophetic as Dahiya was once again rocked by an Israeli airstrike, this time targeting the neighborhood of Moawad. The attack on Moawad leveled three floors of a residential building, killing four and wounding seven. Among the rubble were children’s toys, backpacks, clothing, and shoes.
“We want Israel to know one thing: that this will not keep us from the path of resistance,” a young man told Mondoweiss. “Do not think that we are afraid, no. We have put our faith in God and in our resistance.”
It is this sharpened confidence that has moved the people of Dahiya forward on what they describe as the “path of resistance” — one that has no shortcuts and has forced them to confront the brutality of the United States’ foremost vassal state in the region. To many, the battle is an unfinished one, and those loyal to Hezbollah remain posed in a state of preparedness for whatever comes next.
Frustration with government stance
As Lebanese citizens across South Lebanon and the Dahiya suburb continue to face targeted assassination campaigns, aerial bombardment, and the destruction of their historic villages, the Lebanese government has done little in the way of responding to Israel’s ongoing attacks — which also include clear violations of Lebanese sovereignty by way of drone surveillance — beyond weak condemnations. The local population considers some elements of the Lebanese government as being wholly complicit at worst and weak-willed at best, and instead have put their faith squarely in one another and the Lebanese resistance.
After the airstrikes in Hadath, a group of women standing next to a clothing store just feet from the airstrike expressed their anger and disgust with the Lebanese government, describing them as no better than the United States and Israel. “What is [the government’s] plan for us? To endure these attacks in the South and also here? Are we to feel comforted by their condemnations? Why doesn’t the puppet President Joseph Aoun come back from his trip to France and send his army to defend his people? Where is the Prime Minister? Is he still asleep?” one woman said. “All in all, we’re once again left to defend ourselves. We have no one but God and our Resistance, and that is enough for us.”
This steely conviction is not a rare, poetic expression conveyed by a handful of Lebanese residents but it is an undeniable cool-headedness that is part of the fabric of what comprises the culture of resistance found throughout the Dahiya and South Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s calculations
The Israeli attacks on Dahiya come as international political and economic pressure continues to mount on the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah to disarm.
Despite enduring a campaign of devastating assassinations — which included the killing of Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in September and the two waves of exploding electronics attacks — Hezbollah has shouldered a majority of the nation’s reconstruction and shelter costs amounting to $650 million, according to a report from Al-Akhbar, a pro-resistance outlet. To put this in context, the World Bank has only offered Lebanon a loan of $250 million for reconstruction, which many have described simply as a means to exert pressure on the Lebanese government in order to disarm Hezbollah.
The IMF and World Bank are conditioning reconstruction funds on Lebanon’s normalization with Israel and disarming Hezbollah. The people of Dahiya and Southern Lebanon remain opposed to this form of blackmail, as reported recently by Mondoweiss.
Lebanese writer and analyst Mohammad Hasan Sweidan characterized the current political atmosphere facing the resistance community as “the most violent cognitive war in the history of the conflict with Israel.” In this war, Sweidan argues, Israel is using the latest strategies “in the field of psychological and media warfare that target the awareness of anyone who believes in the option of resisting Israel’s arrogance.”
Among these tactics, arguably, are unconfirmed media reports that allege the Lebanese resistance has entertained the possibility of disarming in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon and ending its aggression on Lebanese villages.
There has been no official statement released by the party or from its new Secretary General, Sheikh Naim Qassim. In fact, in February, during the funeral of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Qassim emphasized that “the resistance is not over” and that it is “present and ready” to face Israel. “We open fire when we see it appropriate, and we practice patience when we see it appropriate, and the resistance will continue.”
Hezbollah has not responded to the Israeli attacks, as they have left this up to the state.
This time has also given the Lebanese resistance the necessary ability to restore their capabilities, but the failure of the Lebanese government to do more than issue weak denunciations is leading Lebanon down two roads: either Hezbollah will have no choice but to re-enter the war in defense of the Lebanese people, or Lebanon will be left to endure further attacks while local politicians continue to sit back.
Time will tell what the future holds for Lebanon, but one thing is clear: those with the Lebanese resistance remain steadfast on this path, and no amount of Israeli violence will deter them from the battle that lies ahead.
“The entire building is gone. The only thing left is cement and glass,” a local business owner told Mondoweiss. “We were sitting with our grandchildren when we heard the airstrikes and saw people running and screaming.” Hours later, smoke still billowed from the ash and rubble as recovery efforts continued.
Residents of Hadath communicated a sense of unease that existed among residents of Dahiya, even before the airstrikes. One woman explained that Israel’s ongoing attacks against South Lebanon were never far from people’s minds. “Many of us felt as though this attack was inevitable, and that Israel wouldn’t spare Dahiya. The ceasefire doesn’t exist for South Lebanon, and it doesn’t exist for the people of the suburb. Where any of our people exist, Israel sees a target.”
Before dawn on April 1, these words seemed almost prophetic as Dahiya was once again rocked by an Israeli airstrike, this time targeting the neighborhood of Moawad. The attack on Moawad leveled three floors of a residential building, killing four and wounding seven. Among the rubble were children’s toys, backpacks, clothing, and shoes.
“We want Israel to know one thing: that this will not keep us from the path of resistance,” a young man told Mondoweiss. “Do not think that we are afraid, no. We have put our faith in God and in our resistance.”
It is this sharpened confidence that has moved the people of Dahiya forward on what they describe as the “path of resistance” — one that has no shortcuts and has forced them to confront the brutality of the United States’ foremost vassal state in the region. To many, the battle is an unfinished one, and those loyal to Hezbollah remain posed in a state of preparedness for whatever comes next.
Frustration with government stance
As Lebanese citizens across South Lebanon and the Dahiya suburb continue to face targeted assassination campaigns, aerial bombardment, and the destruction of their historic villages, the Lebanese government has done little in the way of responding to Israel’s ongoing attacks — which also include clear violations of Lebanese sovereignty by way of drone surveillance — beyond weak condemnations. The local population considers some elements of the Lebanese government as being wholly complicit at worst and weak-willed at best, and instead have put their faith squarely in one another and the Lebanese resistance.
After the airstrikes in Hadath, a group of women standing next to a clothing store just feet from the airstrike expressed their anger and disgust with the Lebanese government, describing them as no better than the United States and Israel. “What is [the government’s] plan for us? To endure these attacks in the South and also here? Are we to feel comforted by their condemnations? Why doesn’t the puppet President Joseph Aoun come back from his trip to France and send his army to defend his people? Where is the Prime Minister? Is he still asleep?” one woman said. “All in all, we’re once again left to defend ourselves. We have no one but God and our Resistance, and that is enough for us.”
This steely conviction is not a rare, poetic expression conveyed by a handful of Lebanese residents but it is an undeniable cool-headedness that is part of the fabric of what comprises the culture of resistance found throughout the Dahiya and South Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s calculations
The Israeli attacks on Dahiya come as international political and economic pressure continues to mount on the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah to disarm.
Despite enduring a campaign of devastating assassinations — which included the killing of Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in September and the two waves of exploding electronics attacks — Hezbollah has shouldered a majority of the nation’s reconstruction and shelter costs amounting to $650 million, according to a report from Al-Akhbar, a pro-resistance outlet. To put this in context, the World Bank has only offered Lebanon a loan of $250 million for reconstruction, which many have described simply as a means to exert pressure on the Lebanese government in order to disarm Hezbollah.
The IMF and World Bank are conditioning reconstruction funds on Lebanon’s normalization with Israel and disarming Hezbollah. The people of Dahiya and Southern Lebanon remain opposed to this form of blackmail, as reported recently by Mondoweiss.
Lebanese writer and analyst Mohammad Hasan Sweidan characterized the current political atmosphere facing the resistance community as “the most violent cognitive war in the history of the conflict with Israel.” In this war, Sweidan argues, Israel is using the latest strategies “in the field of psychological and media warfare that target the awareness of anyone who believes in the option of resisting Israel’s arrogance.”
Among these tactics, arguably, are unconfirmed media reports that allege the Lebanese resistance has entertained the possibility of disarming in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon and ending its aggression on Lebanese villages.
There has been no official statement released by the party or from its new Secretary General, Sheikh Naim Qassim. In fact, in February, during the funeral of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Qassim emphasized that “the resistance is not over” and that it is “present and ready” to face Israel. “We open fire when we see it appropriate, and we practice patience when we see it appropriate, and the resistance will continue.”
Hezbollah has not responded to the Israeli attacks, as they have left this up to the state.
This time has also given the Lebanese resistance the necessary ability to restore their capabilities, but the failure of the Lebanese government to do more than issue weak denunciations is leading Lebanon down two roads: either Hezbollah will have no choice but to re-enter the war in defense of the Lebanese people, or Lebanon will be left to endure further attacks while local politicians continue to sit back.
Time will tell what the future holds for Lebanon, but one thing is clear: those with the Lebanese resistance remain steadfast on this path, and no amount of Israeli violence will deter them from the battle that lies ahead.
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