One recent morning, near the town of Nabi Shit in the eastern part of Lebanon's Bekaa region, a dozen men were cleaning up the rubble. Israeli planes flew over the valley a week earlier, the second such attack in three days. The explosions colored the night sky red, yellow and orange, and the air was filled with the smell of dust and gunpowder.
"They hit Nabi Shit because our village is the mother of resistance," Muhammad Al Mousavi, an ardent supporter of Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group, political party and social movement known here as the Resistance, told the Guardian. He stood on the terrace of his one-story home in front of a pile of rubble and a twisted metal roof. The windows were broken, and the facade was riddled with shrapnel. A neighbor was killed in the attacks, while Mousavi's grandson Hussein was among 20 injured and was rushed to hospital after his face was cut by broken glass.
"He is four years old and already understands that Israel is an enemy that destroys Arab countries. What do you think will happen when he grows up?" said Mousavi.
The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on casualties, but previously said fighter jets targeted a weapons depot and anti-aircraft system on August 21, causing secondary explosions. Hezbollah, local authorities and witnesses claimed that a civilian settlement was directly hit.
While southern Lebanese villages have borne the brunt of the crossfire in the so far limited war of attrition, the recent attacks in Bekaa could signal the spread of the conflict to the east of the country. This valley is known for its fertile soil, wineries and Roman temples, which until recently attracted international tourists.
As the risk of regional conflict grows, another aspect of the Beka Valley's history comes to the fore again.
Dubbed the "reservoir of resistance," Bekaa is a stronghold of support for Hezbollah and a weapons depot along a strategic corridor linking Hezbollah with allies in Syria, Iraq and Iran.
"We consider the southern part to be the first line of defense in Lebanon, and we in Bekaa are the second line of defense," said Hassan Al Mousavi, mayor of the Hezbollah-run municipality of Nabi Shit. The movement enjoys the support of powerful tribes in the Bekaa and recruits fighters from the area's Shiite population.
Bekah is the birthplace of Hezbollah and several of its leaders. A short walk downhill from the municipality leads to the ornate shrine of Abbas Al Mousavi, the Shia cleric who in 1982, with the help of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, founded Hezbollah to fight Israel's occupation of Lebanon. Bekaa was the location of the first training camp and served as a rear base as Hezbollah fought Israeli troops in the south until their withdrawal in 2000. During the next war, in 2006, Israel bombed one of the main bridges leading into the valley to cut off supply lines.
In recent weeks, Beka has once again become a scene of war. For the first time since October, when Hezbollah entered the conflict supporting its ally Hamas, on August 25 it used the valley to launch drones towards Israel, its Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah revealed in a speech that day. The drones were part of a long-awaited response to the Israeli assassination of Fuad Shukr, a top Hezbollah commander killed in airstrikes and drone strikes that have so far claimed the lives of more than 400 Hezbollah fighters.
Nasrallah acknowledged that Shukr's killing was a great loss, particularly felt in his hometown of Nabi Shit. Using the Beka Valley as a launch pad was a symbolic act of revenge for his death, but also a strategic message that Hezbollah was ready to activate its rear base. "The military message that Sajid Nasrallah sent is that we are for peace and not for war, but if war is imposed on us, we are ready to use advanced weapons," said Mayor Mousavi.
Hezbollah's estimated arsenal of 150.000 rockets and missiles is largely supplied by Iran, which has remained the group's main sponsor even after it developed from rebel roots into a de facto state in Shiite-majority areas such as the Bekaa Valley. Across Nabi Shit, posters pay tribute to Iranian leaders, such as the late General Qassem Soleimani, who is credited with strengthening Iran's network of regional allies. Despite this apparent respect for Iran's leaders, many here do not see Hezbollah as Iran's proxy.
"The West thinks there is a leader and a follower, that Iran gives the order and we shoot," said another Muhammad Mousavi, a spokesman for the Abbas Al Mousavi shrine, which has a large poster of Iranian leaders next to the tomb. "That relationship is an alliance in which decisions are made through consultation. If Iran says, 'Let's hit Tel Aviv,' but it's not in Hezbollah's interest, it won't happen," he points out.
Israel and many Western countries have declared Hezbollah a terrorist organization. In a statement after the attack on Nabi Shit, the Israeli military said: "The terrorist organization Hezbollah operates within the civilian infrastructure, brutally exploiting the Lebanese civilian population."
However, far from feeling taken advantage of, the people of Nabi Shit rallied around Hezbollah after the attack. "I am with the resistance movement because of the injustice I experienced," said Mousavi, a supporter whose house was damaged.
The Israeli army arrested him in 1984, while occupying Lebanon. During the interrogation, Israeli officers pulled out all his teeth, he said, pausing to remove his dentures and show his toothless jaws. Upon his release, Mousavi joined Hezbollah. Now in his sixties, he is retired, but his sons have followed in his footsteps. His grandson Hussein will probably become the third generation in the family to fight in the ranks of Hezbollah.
One of the reasons why people are deeply connected to Hezbollah is religion. Bekah is rooted in Shia doctrine. The Mousavi family is descended from the seventh Shia Imam, Musa Al Kazim, the successor of the Prophet Muhammad. Fighting injustice is a cornerstone of the Shia faith, and Hezbollah uses this principle to present its involvement in the conflict as a broader struggle against Israeli encroachment on Palestinian and Lebanese land.
Such attitudes are additionally strengthened by anti-colonial beliefs that date back centuries. The tribes of the Beka Valley are proud of having resisted invaders during Ottoman and French rule and see Israel as the epitome of colonialism.
"I support the Palestinians because if the Palestinians disappear, Israel will attack Lebanon after that," said Sheikh Midhat Zeiter, head of the most powerful tribe in Bekaa.
He was sitting on the veranda of the family house situated on a hillside near the town of Balbek. The village was surrounded by fields of cannabis, which became the main source of income in the valley, gradually replacing other, less profitable crops in what was once known as Lebanon's granary.
In exchange for the loyalty of the tribes, Hezbollah recruits local officials and members of parliament from among them and allows the cultivation of cannabis, even though the drug trade runs counter to its ideology. "Nobility and Hezbollah share the same principles of armed resistance. We can differ on a hundred other issues, but not when it comes to the fight against Israel," said the sheikh's son, Mohar Zejter.
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