A full-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah would be “a catastrophe,” says the UN Secretary General. But for David Kamari, who is under fire on the Israeli side of the border almost every day, it would be a solution.
Last month, a Hezbollah rocket fired from Lebanon landed in his front yard in the border town of Kiryat Shmona, destroying his house in several places and filling it with rubble.
He points out the gaping holes where shrapnel cut through the walls, missing him by inches. And then to the hills above us, where the Hezbollah-controlled area begins.
“Every day, every night: bombs. [It’s a] problem,” he said. ‘And I was born here. If you live here one night, you’ll go crazy.”
David still lives in his rubble-filled house, with pieces of shrapnel entangled in the remains of his television set. Outside sits the blackened remains of his car, burned by the fire that ripped through his front yard after the rocket hit.
Most of Kiryat Shmona’s population was evacuated after the October 7 Hamas attacks, when Hezbollah rockets began raining down in support of their Palestinian ally.
David is one of the few who stayed. “I’ve lived here for 71 years,” he said. ‘I’m not going. I was in the army, I’m not afraid.’
His solution? ‘War with Hezbollah; kill Hezbollah,” he says.
Israel has hit back heavily against Hezbollah, killing senior commanders and hitting targets further into Lebanon.
Hezbollah has sent larger salvos of drones and missiles across the border this month, and threats on both sides have increased. Earlier this week, the group published drone images of military installations and civilian infrastructure in the Israeli city of Haifa.
Tough language has long been part of a mutual deterrence strategy, with both sides seen as wary of all-out war.
But as the tit-for-tat conflict continues and more than 60,000 Israelis remain evacuated from their homes in the north, there are signs that both Israel’s leaders and its citizens are willing to support military options to push Hezbollah back from the border by force.
The mayor of Kiryat Shmona, Avichai Stern, shows me the spot where a rocket hit the street near his office last week.
“I don’t think there’s a country in the world that would accept daily fire on its citizens,” Mayor Stern said.
“And sitting here like lambs slaughtering, waiting for the day they will attack us, as we have seen in the south, that is not acceptable. Everyone understands that the choice is between war now or war later.’
The dangerous standoff here depends largely on the war Israel is waging more than 100 miles south in Gaza.
A ceasefire there would also help calm tensions in the north, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is keeping both conflicts going, mortgaged by his promise to far-right government allies to destroy Hamas before ending the Gaza war.
Earlier this week, even Israel’s military spokesman said this goal may not be realistic.
“The idea that we can destroy Hamas or make Hamas disappear is misleading to the public,” Admiral Daniel Hagari told Israeli television.
On the Lebanese side of the border, where more than 90,000 people have been evacuated, the mood among those who have remained is also grim.
Fatima Belhas lives a few kilometers (7 km) from the Israeli border, near Jbal el Botm.
At first she trembled with fear when Israel bombed the area, she says, but she has since come to terms with the bombings and no longer thinks about leaving.
“Where would I go?” she asked. “[Others] have family elsewhere. But how can I impose on someone like that? We have no money.”
“Maybe it’s better to die at home with dignity,” she said. “We grew up with resistance. We will not be expelled from our land like the Palestinians.”
Hussein Aballan recently left his village of Mays al Jbal, about six miles from Kiryat Shmona, on the Lebanese side of the border.
Life there had become impossible, he said, with erratic communications and electricity, and almost no functioning shops.
The several dozen families left there are mainly older people who refuse to leave their homes and farms, he told the BBC.
But he supported Hezbollah’s attack on Israel.
“Everyone in the south [of Lebanon] has experienced years of aggression, but has come out stronger,” he said. “We are only strong through resistance.”
As difficult as this border conflict is for people on both sides, a full-scale war would take the crisis to another scale.
Some Beirut residents are keeping their bags packed and their passports ready in case a major conflict breaks out. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said this week that no cuts would be made anywhere in Israel.
Hezbollah is a well-armed, well-trained army, backed by Iran; Israel, an advanced military power with the US as an ally.
A full-scale war would likely be devastating for both sides.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said it would be a “catastrophe.” […] beyond the imagination”.
The problem for Israel is how to stop the rockets and get its people back to the country’s desolate northern areas.
The problem for Hezbollah is how to stop the rockets when its ally, Hamas, is bombarded by Israeli forces in Gaza.
The longer this situation continues, the greater the risk of miscalculation, and the more pressure the Israeli government will be under to resolve the situation.
The Hamas attacks on October 7 changed the security calculations in Israel. Many of those who have homes near the border – and some of those in positions of power – say the kind of deal struck in the past with Hezbollah is no longer enough.
Tom Perry lives in Kibbutz Malkiya, right next to the Lebanese border fence. He was drinking with friends when a Hezbollah rocket crashed through the front of his house earlier this month.
“I think the Secretary General’s warning is correct – [war] This will be a catastrophe for the area,” he said.
“But unfortunately it seems we have no other option. No deal lasts forever because they want death for us. We are doomed to eternal wars unless Israel can eliminate Hezbollah.”
Israeli leaders have lost all credibility after the October 7 attacks, he says, and have no strategy to achieve peace.
“They need to stop – all of them. The biggest failure of our military and our country was on October 7, and they were our leaders. We don’t need these leaders.”
Demand for political change is likely to increase as conflicts in Israel end.
Many believe the Israeli prime minister is trying to buy time: he is caught between growing demands for a ceasefire in Gaza and growing support for war in the north.
