|
 In recent weeks, residents of this Christian village say life has
started to feel a little more normal, thanks to an offensive waged
by Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah against the insurgents just over
the border in Syria.
The Hezbollah operation targeting Islamic State and the al
Qaeda-linked Nusra Front has helped halt the short-range rockets
fired periodically at border villages in Lebanon, repeatedly jolted
by spillover from the war in Syria.
Yet even with the powerful, Iranian-backed Hezbollah battling the
insurgents in the border zone, and the Lebanese army deploying to
secure the frontier, the villagers of Qaa are still worried. They
say they are ready to fight if necessary.
"There is concern about security here because of the dangers we are
seeing around us," said Milad Bitar, a father of three, describing
how he watched with concern as jihadists rose to the forefront of
the insurgency against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The fate of Christians in Iraq and Syria, persecuted by Islamic
State, is ever present in his mind. Earlier in the Syrian conflict,
several villagers from Qaa were kidnapped and held for ransom.
 "Our borders are very close ... they are only two kilometers from
here," said Bitar, who owns a petrol station.
Like many in Qaa, he has his own gun, bought three years ago, and
says he is ready to use it if necessary.
"We need to defend our families".
JOINT OFFENSIVE
Hezbollah, a vital ally to Assad, launched its assault against
insurgents in the Qalamoun mountain range in May, in a joint
offensive with the Syrian army.
Its involvement is critical to securing western areas of Syria where
Assad is trying to shore up his grip as Syrian rebels gain ground
elsewhere. On Sunday, the Syrian army and Hezbollah said they had
entered the city of Zabadani, which the rebels have held since 2012.
But the Qalamoun offensive also has an important security dimension
for Hezbollah in Lebanon, removing the threat posed by the
insurgents to areas of political and military importance in the
Bekaa Valley.
Hezbollah's role in Syria is highly controversial in Lebanon, where
loyalties are split between people who support Assad and others who
sympathize with the Sunni rebels trying to unseat him. Its critics
say Hezbollah's role in Syria has in fact increased the danger posed
by Sunni jihadists to Lebanon.
But those arguments do not appear to carry weight with residents of
Qaa and border Shi'ite villages, who share Hezbollah's concerns
about Islamic State and al Qaeda.
"Time has proved to us that we as Christians are in danger," said
Mansour Saad, a local official.
The several thousand villagers have decided to fight the insurgents
themselves if necessary.
"Here, before we name our babies, we buy them a gun," said Saad, a
supporter of Christian politician and Hezbollah ally Michel Aoun.
"We have put in place several plans on how to act if we get
attacked."
STRATEGIC ZONE
Areas of Syria across the border from Qaa are of vital importance in
the war, which has killed nearly a quarter of a million people and
shows no signs of abating.
The Syrian city of Homs lies just 50 km (30 miles) to the northeast.
The town of Qusair, where Hezbollah intervened to crush Syrian
rebels in 2013, is directly over the border. Without control of the
Homs region, Assad cannot secure the corridor of territory
stretching north from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast.
[to top of second column] |
The price Hezbollah is paying for its involvement in the Syrian war
is displayed throughout Shi'ite villages in the area. Pictures of
young men killed in the fighting hang alongside portraits of the
group's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and banners vowing to end
"terrorism" at the border.
In a Sunni village in the area, Lebanese who are sympathetic to the
Syrian insurgency and share the view that Hezbollah has brought
trouble to their country can be found, but they appear hesitant to
speak out.
"Who drove the Syrians out and who destroyed their homes?" said one,
voicing sympathy for Syrian refugees who have flooded Lebanon.
Declining to give his name, he said others felt the same but were
scared to speak.
The outskirts of Qaa serve as a temporary home to thousands of
Syrian refugees, some of the more than 1 million who have fled to
Lebanon. But there is little sympathy for them in Qaa, where they
are seen as a threat.
"We consider them as 'sleeper cells' because they are here in big
numbers. We do not know when they might carry weapons and take part
in an attack against us," said Saad, the local official.
A little further to the south, thousands more refugees still reside
in the Sunni town of Arsal, scene of several days of lethal clashes
between the Lebanese army and jihadist groups who launched an attack
on the town last August.
In the nearby Shi'ite village of Labweh, residents recall coming
under rocket fire from Arsal during the attack.
"We had to carry weapons then," said Mohamad Sharif, a father of
three. "I picked up guns not for Hezbollah or anyone else, but for
my children," he said.
Many critics of Hezbollah in the Shi'ite and Christian border
villages have set aside their differences with the group. They see
the jihadists as an existential threat due to their proximity to the
border.
"I disagree with Hezbollah on several issues but in this battle I am
on its side ... If it weren't for Hezbollah, there would have been
massacres here," Sharif said.
"Let Hezbollah say they need fighters and you will see thousands
joining from this region, but they do not need fighters," he said,
speaking at his house near Arsal.
"The families here are willing to sacrifice a son, two or even three
in this battle, this is an existential war for us here. If we have
to lose 100 men, let it be, as long as we get rid of them," he said.
Mustafa, a university student from Labweh, said there was unanimous
support for Hezbollah's role fighting at the border. "People may
question what Hezbollah is doing in Idlib or Aleppo, but you won't
find anyone here who would ask why Hezbollah is fighting on the
border now," he said.
(Editing by Tom Perry and Mark Trevelyan)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
