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chao news client reporter wu yue

"the bread and flour shelves have been sold out." late at night on september 27, beijing time, zhang li (pseudonym), a chinese living in beirut, the capital of lebanon, felt the panic of ordinary people about the crossfire between lebanon and israel in the supermarket. on the shelves, only a layer of flour was left after the flour bag was damaged.

the conflict between lebanon and israel has intensified for more than ten days, and the lives of local people have become extremely tense. the southern suburbs of beirut, the capital of lebanon, and many of its southern provinces have continued to be attacked by israeli missiles, causing many refugees to lose their homes and become displaced. the escape roads leading to beirut have also become overcrowded.

with a population of just over 6 million and an area of ​​over 10,000 square kilometers, lebanon is one of the smallest and least populous countries in the world. however, as the current lebanese-israeli conflict intensifies, there is a risk that the conflict will get out of control, and the international community is generally worried that "lebanon will become the second gaza."

li weijian, a researcher at the middle east institute of the shanghai institutes for international studies, who has visited lebanon twice for exchanges, has seen that lebanon has been under the shadow of conflict and civil war for a long time. at the same time, the country’s “weak foundation” and poor government governance have resulted in many development “symptoms.” once the scale of the lebanese-israeli conflict expands, it is likely to be the "last straw" that breaks lebanon's back.

on september 26, buildings damaged in israeli air strikes were photographed in the southern suburbs of beirut, the capital of lebanon. xinhua news agency

lebanese girls cry:i want to come to china

at around 20:00 on september 26, beijing time, a reporter from chao news clearly heard an explosion in the distance while connecting with nana, a lebanese girl living in downtown beirut. at that time, the southern suburbs of beirut were once again hit byisraelair strikes. what worries her is that it takes 5-6 months to apply for a passport in lebanon. but obviously, she is looking forward to leaving lebanon with her family as soon as possible."there were constant sounds of explosions in the distance, many houses were blown up, and refugees were displaced."

recalling the experiences of the past ten days or so, i still feel frightened.nana sent a wechat message to her friend li ting (pseudonym) who lives in zhejiang to inform her that the closest distance to the missile was at the basketball court in the southern suburbs of beirut. a missile landed not far from her and exploded with a loud sound. "i don't know where the next missile will land," nana was frightened at the time.

through the news these days, nana saw the chinese ministry of foreign affairs repeatedly stating its support for lebanon in safeguarding its sovereignty. after that, she told li ting, "i want to apply for a passport and come to zhejiang to study. if i can find a job in the future, i will stay in china."

li ting is worried about the safety of nana and her family. nana also said that she will come to china after getting her passport, and hopes to go to university in zhejiang and study related majors in the treatment of heart disease.

under the current lebanese-israeli conflict, many schools in lebanon are facing closure.as of press time,the shakib arslan public high school in beirut, the capital of lebanon, where nana studied, has been suspended for the fifth day. "the school has taken in many refugees and provided them with free accommodation and food." nana said that it is expected that on september 30, lebanese time, they only then can classes be resumed.

buildings damaged in israeli air strikes in the southern suburbs of beirut, the capital of lebanon. photo provided by interviewee

the palestinian-israeli conflict has lasted for more than 40 years, and the contradictions between the two sides are deeply rooted. in the memories of this generation of young people in lebanon, they have been familiar with war since childhood and have also suffered from the negative effects of war. nowadays, with the new round of escalation of the lebanese-israeli conflict, the bloody and cruel war has once again happened in lebanon. more residential buildings and commercial areas were destroyed by bullet fire.

in the video provided by multiple interviewees, when missiles attacked the suburb of dayeh in southern beirut, the shells landed on residential buildings and also hit ordinary people. they were a mess of blood and flesh, telephone poles overturned, building fragments fell, and the ground was shattered. stone……

in the surrounding hospitals, injured people covered in blood were lying on the beds waiting to stop the bleeding and receive first aid. some injured people were being carried into the hospital to seek emergency treatment. a mother who had just lost her child collapsed on the ground and cried bitterly. there are far more injured than medical staff and hospitals are operating at full capacity.

on september 24, a car was damaged in an israeli air strike in beirut, lebanon. xinhua news agency

the conflict between lebanon and israel has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis. official data from lebanon shows that a total of 77,100 displaced persons have been registered in 565 resettlement centers across the country. in the face of cruel and bloody war, seeking a peaceful homeland is the common aspiration of ordinary people. nana is looking forward to leaving, which is also the choice of many young people in lebanon under the shadow of war. a lebanese chinese wrote in his circle of friends: young people are far away from their relatives at home and looking for a way out overseas. this is war, causing joys and sorrows in lebanon.

chinese experience it firsthand: "lebanon can no longer withstand any storms"

as the lebanese-israeli conflict intensifies, new social pressures arise in lebanon. according to xinhua news agency, in tire, one of the cities hit by large-scale air strikes by the israeli army, local refugees fled towards beirut. the roads were severely congested and the drive that originally took more than an hour now took seven hours.

in august this year, li ting saw bullet holes in the walls of many houses in cities around beirut, and the damaged buildings had no time to repair. what many chinese people do not want to see is that lebanon is facing an escalation of conflict again, and ordinary people have been implicated in the war, making their lives more difficult.

like li ting, many chinese in lebanon were worried when they saw this scene. "lebanon has indeed gone through too many disasters and is on the verge of collapse. it can no longer withstand any storm, let alone a war."

even before the lebanese-israeli conflict broke out, lebanon still had real difficulties. problems such as sectarian conflicts and disorderly national governance had long plagued lebanon, and the lebanese government continued to have political crises. in recent years, zhou mei (pseudonym), who has lived in tripoli, the second largest port in lebanon, has experienced lebaneseeconomic crisis, she saw that lebanon’s economic level ranked last among middle eastern countries.

"since 2019, the exchange rate between the lebanese pound and the u.s. dollar has soared from 1,500:1 to 90,000:1 today. subsequently, the lebanese bank went bankrupt and the economy fell into a trough." zhou mei said that the economic downturn has compounded the lebanese-israeli conflict. exacerbating the impact, the lebanese economy is even worse. “some people can’t even afford big cakes to fill their stomachs.”

on september 26, in tripoli, lebanon, people prepared food for displaced people from the southern region. xinhua news agency

this round of lebanese-israeli conflict has undoubtedly intensified social conflicts in lebanon. moreover, the intensification of this conflict will also be recorded in history - this is the third large-scale military conflict between lebanon and israel after 1982 and 2006. the ongoing fighting has left lebanon devastated and causing social unrest.

on september 23, israel’s air strikes on lebanon continued from early morning to late at night. lebanon experienced the “bloodiest day” since the lebanese-israeli conflict escalated. according to xinhua news agency, the israeli air strikes on lebanon on the 23rd have killed at least 558 people, including 50 children, and injured 1,835 others. most of the casualties were unarmed civilians.

zhou mei is helpless. the lebanese people who suffered during the war have been displaced. some have lost their families, and some are walking alone on the street carrying a quilt. why don't they want to live in a peaceful environment?

on september 25, displaced people from lebanon were photographed at the syrian-lebanese border crossing outside damascus, syria. xinhua news agency

chao news reporters learned from interviews that there are currently many civil organizations in lebanon that provide food and daily necessities to refugees. some of the refugees evacuated from southern lebanon went to live with relatives and friends, some were placed in public schools opened by the lebanese government, and some went tosyria。

seeing the need for relief from the lebanese people, many chinese have actively participated in refugee relief. they told chao news reporters that everyone is resentful of the intensification of conflicts. lebanon is their second homeland and they like its beautiful natural scenery and long history and culture. “and the lebanese are very friendly to the chinese, so beautiful and cultured.” the country’s heritage should not be destroyed.”

pager explosion ignites conflict, is all-out war imminent?

the "declaration of war" behind the current escalation of the lebanese-israeli conflict was the pager explosion in mid-september. in the past half month, pager explosions have escalated to lebanese and israeli attacks on each other, "fighting each other", and the situation is getting increasingly heated.

according to xinhua news agency, on september 17 and 18, the successive pager explosions in lebanon were extremely lethal, killing a total of 37 people and injuring nearly 3,000 people. at the same time, the incident triggered widespread panic and chaos in the southern suburbs of beirut, the bekaa valley and southern lebanon.

li weijian introduced that hezbollah is both an organization and a political party, but it also has its own armed forces and its influence is deeply rooted in lebanon. in addition, lebanon is inherently fragile due to its many factions and the absence of a strong central government. in view of this, the israeli military has repeatedly threatened to "push lebanon back to the stone age."

since the outbreak of a new round of conflict, in addition to the current air strikes, israel has been prepared for a possible ground attack and has obvious military advantages. according to xinhua news agency, the commander of lebanon’s hezbollah was killed in an israeli air strike, and senior commanders of hezbollah’s drone unit, missile unit, and elite units were also “targeted for elimination.”

"the new round of lebanese-israeli conflict is heating up. israel's strategy has dual considerations. on the one hand, it hopes to eliminate hezbollah's offensive capabilities. israel is trying to dismantle hezbollah's military command system and even expel them from a certain area in southern lebanon. on the other hand, it hopes to rebuild the middle east. military deterrence to safeguard national security," zou zhiqiang, a researcher at the middle east studies center of fudan university, analyzed to chao news reporter.

on september 24, at the united nations headquarters in new york, united nations secretary-general guterres delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the general debate of the 79th united nations general assembly, calling on the international community not to let lebanon become "another gaza." xinhua news agency

faced with the escalating situation in the middle east, united nations secretary-general guterres once again called for peace. u.s. president joseph biden said at the united nations general assembly on the 24th that the outbreak of a "full-scale war" between israel and lebanon was not in the interests of either party, and the conflict should be resolved through diplomatic channels. lebanese foreign minister abdullah bou habib accused the united states of being ineffective. as a close ally of israel and the largest arms supplier, the united states should have been the key to solving the problem.

in fact, there have been constant small-scale conflicts in the lebanese-israeli border area. the disaster risk management group under the lebanese government issued a statement on september 26 saying that since the beginning of october last year, the conflict between hezbollah and israel has killed 1,540 people and injured 5,410 people in lebanon. in the context of the lebanese-israeli conflict, the international community is generally worried that "if this round of conflict escalates out of control, lebanon may become the second gaza."

in this regard, li weijian analyzed to chao news reporter that in august, israel claimed that the battle in the gaza strip was "basically over", but in fact it did not achieve the purpose of eliminating hamas, but instead brought a humanitarian disaster to the gaza region. in order to deflect conflicts and accusations, israel has targeted lebanon.

"the united states is currently in a critical period of the election, and its attitude towards the lebanese-israeli conflict is not clear. israel will not openly expand the scale of the lebanese-israeli conflict when the united states has insufficient funding and ammunition supply." li weijian analyzed to chao news reporter that lebanese-israeli the conflict will continue to heat up and cool down until the end of this round of us elections. ultimately, the us attitude will play a decisive role in the future direction of the lebanese-israeli conflict.