DHAYRA, Lebanon – Many residents of south Lebanon who just days ago were preparing to harvest their olives have instead fled for fear of another ruinous conflict with Israel after the deadliest day of cross-border violence since the 2006 war.
For villagers in southern Lebanon, Monday’s clashes stirred memories of the devastating 2006 war between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah as the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants, 200 km (120 miles) away to the south, arrived at their doorstep.
On the Israeli side of the frontier, villages appeared deserted on Tuesday – a possible result of residents sheltering indoors rather than evacuating. The Israeli military said it had not issued them with any orders to leave. Some people, however, said they were relocating southward as a temporary precaution.
Israeli tanks were deployed in the far northern border town of Metulla as rain came down near the heavily fortified border.
Six people were killed on Monday – three Hezbollah members, an Israeli officer, and two Palestinian militants who touched off the violence by infiltrating Israel from Lebanon.
“I was here in 2006 – those were terrifying scenes. And the shelling yesterday was very heavy,” Charbel Alam, a barber in the border town of Rmeish, said. Hundreds of people had left, mostly families with children or elderly relatives, he said.
,(Reuters)
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