SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The town of Marjayoun is less than 10 miles from Lebanon's border with Israel. It's where the Israeli military is conducting a ground incursion, what it says are limited raids, backed by airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in the small villages in Lebanon's South. And it is about as close to the front line of the war as you can get in Lebanon right now. NPR's Eyder Peralta arrived in Marjayoun today and joins us now Hey, Eyder.
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: Hey there, Scott.
DETROW: Tell us what you saw.
PERALTA: I mean, so, look, this is the region of Lebanon that is just being pummeled by the Israeli Air Force. And over the past three weeks, they have told civilians to leave, and they've told them that returning would put their lives in danger. So this town that I'm in is completely desolate. Some of the stretches of road that we drove on are also desolate. On one of the roads, we saw a huge crater. Two cars had been destroyed by an airstrike. And as we drove, we saw smoke billowing from the hills around us.
And all day we've been here, we've heard constant booms. We've heard outgoing fire from Hezbollah, and then Israel returns fire quickly. We hear the roars of the jets above, and then they're followed by explosions. Sometimes, Hezbollah's rockets take off in the air, and they're intercepted midway by Israel's Iron Dome. So here, at least, it feels like there's just no respite from the conflict.
DETROW: Yeah. I mean, it sounds that way. I mean, we know about 350,000 people left Southern Lebanon since the war began a year ago, when Israel and Hezbollah started trading fire almost immediately after October 7. But some people have remained. What is life like for them in this area right now?
PERALTA: You know, it's interesting because when I was reporting in Beirut - which is, in some ways, far away from the front lines - I heard a lot of bravado from people. We're ready to fight. We're ready to defend our land. But here, people are scared of what's happening, and they're scared of what's to come. And a lot of people who have stayed here are older folks. I've been welcomed into their homes, and I keep hearing the same thing from them. All we want is peace.
I spoke to Nabih Lahoud, the principal of the Marjeyoun National College, which is one of the schools here in town. And he says, Lebanon has never been able to catch a break. It's war after war in the middle of a pandemic, and now classes are canceled again, and all he wants is to go back to teaching.
NABIH LAHOUD: Because it was flourishing after three years.
PERALTA: What you've just described is this pattern - disruption over and over and...
LAHOUD: Over and over - I'm 71 years old. I haven't seen a good day all throughout my life. I don't know why these people who are running Lebanon don't feel that there is a people around. They are looking for bankrupting us. They have stolen us.
PERALTA: Do you have hope that you may one day see a good day?
LAHOUD: Depends on the - shall I live till that day (laughter)? Hopefully - I'm hopefully. Always...
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)
LAHOUD: These are rockets...
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)
LAHOUD: ...From Hezbollah...
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)
LAHOUD: ...Three. You might hear one...
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION)
LAHOUD: ...Four. Count them. Some days ago, I counted 46 - 46 after each other.
PERALTA: And Scott, that gives you a sense of life here right now. It feels like it can change at any moment. It feels precarious.
DETROW: And as you described before, just constant booms and jets flying overhead. What's interesting here, Eyder, is that you're in a Christian village, which, in previous wars, would have been spared, but there have been a lot of strikes around where you're staying. Do you have any sense or do people there have any sense of why that is?
PERALTA: Yeah, I mean, it's actually surreal. I'm standing on a balcony right now, and I'm looking out at a Shia Muslim village. All civilians have left that village, and it's still constantly being bombarded by Israel. The assumption is that Hezbollah is a Shia militant group and that Israel will spare the Christian villages that don't really support Hezbollah. The assumption is that I'm safe on this balcony because, as you said, this has been the case in previous wars. But what I keep hearing is that this war feels different. A little more than a week ago, the hospital right here in this town was hit by an airstrike. And residents here say that a couple of months ago, Israel struck two Hezbollah fighters right in town.
They're also looking at Gaza. Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a warning. He said the people of Lebanon should stop supporting Hezbollah, or they might face the same fates as Gaza. And that's what people in these villages are really scared of.
DETROW: Yeah. That's NPR's Eyder Peralta in Marjayoun, Lebanon, near the border with Israel. Eyder, thanks so much, and stay safe.
PERALTA: Thank you, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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