As Israel’s invasion of Lebanon intensifies and brings more destruction to the Mediterranean nation, anger among the Lebanese with Israel is, not surprisingly, at an all-time high.
But displeasure with its foe, Hezbollah, is also growing.
With 1,400 Lebanese dead and more than 1 million displaced nationwide — a fifth of the country’s population — Hezbollah critics and supporters alike are voicing frustration over what many view as the group’s miscalculations.
“This is a war between Iran and Israel on Lebanese territory,” said Samy Gemayel, a Parliament member with the Kataeb Party, a longtime rival of Hezbollah.
“Unfortunately, today, we’re all stuck," Gemayel said. "Hezbollah is continuing its war. It’s not willing to stop, and is taking the whole country to hell with it.”
Family members of those killed in Israeli attacks are also blaming Hezbollah — an Iran-backed militant group and one of Lebanon's biggest political parties — for lacking adequate plans to evacuate, shelter or rescue them.
Slowly picking his way through the rubble of what was the six-story building in a Hezbollah-dominated Beirut suburb where his brother lived, Mohammad, 40, who asked to be identified by only his first name, wondered when recovery crew workers would finally arrive. He said the bodies of his brother, sister-in-law and nephew lay in the wreckage.
Hezbollah officials told him he would have to wait because crews were already overburdened due to "the situation." But workers, he pointed out, were actively recovering the bodies of Hezbollah members in a destroyed building nearby.
"We appreciate their sacrifice," the man said. "But they chose this. Don’t tell me it’s 'the situation’ when you get [Hezbollah members' bodies] out and leave my family under the rubble. Why should my brother and his family wait to be buried? I know I won’t find their bodies. But give me some pieces of flesh I can put in a bag and go bury them.”
Many fault Hezbollah for starting the latest conflict with Israel.
A day after Palestinian militants from Hamas attacked southern Israel and sparked the Israel-Hamas war last October, Hezbollah joined the fight by launching a barrage of missiles and rockets at northern Israel. Hezbollah said it was seeking to aid Hamas and force Israel to fight on two fronts.
Some 60,000 people from northern Israel and 90,000 in southern Lebanon were displaced during a year of tit-for-tat border attacks.
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