Travel to Nabi Shit, the birthplace of Hezbollah in the Bekah Valley: “As long as Israel exists, the resistance will exist”

The rain fills the deep crater that engulfed the plaza Prophet Shit. The dirty, muddy water occupies the endless eight meters of depth that one of the Israeli projectiles left in the heart of this Lebanese village. A village is located just five kilometers from the border with Syria. Far from the hand of God, the streets of the municipality become stained with mud at the slightest precipitation. In every corner, there is a portrait of a “martyr”of a fallen militiaman. The strident yellow of the pennants of Hezbollah breaks with the gray of the precarious buildings. In that abandoned place on the plain of Beca Valleythe Lebanese militia was born there in the 80se Israel He seems to want it to be precisely there, in his native Nabi Shit, where he breathes his last.

Hani al Musawipresident of the municipality, does not hide it. He is even proud that it is the homeland of the militia. “Hezbollah is from this environment, “It was born from him, and from his people, it was born from our society, from our families,” he defends this newspaper in front of the last bombed building in the village. Of the multi-story house that was the day before, there is barely a tangle of belongings left, crushed under the ruins of the solar panels. Al Musawi shares the last name with Abbas al Musawihe co-founder of Hezbollahoriginally from these same streets. This Lebanese theologian, born into a Shiite family in Nabi Shit, led the formation of the movement known as ‘the party of God’ in Arabic. It was precisely here in the Bekah Valley in 1982 where the militia arose. Nine years later, Abbas al Musawi became the second secretary general of the group until his assassination in 1992.

The importance of this Lebanese village that, in times of peace, has 15,000 inhabitants goes back to times past. With more than 1,000 years old, it is one of the oldest cities in the region. His name is attributed to prophet SetShit in Arabic, the third son of Adam and Eve after Cain and Abel. It is believed that he is buried there, and there is a sanctuary in his honor, very popular for religious tourism. Since the first week of the war, a large part of the population has abandoned the town, under permanent Israeli scrutiny. “In 10 days, it has been attacked 55 times“, declares Hussein, a local journalist. “The Israelis attack civilian areas so that turn against Hezbollah and thus put pressure on the group”he tells EL PERIÓDICO. But, in general, the opposite usually happens.

No reproach

“When they come and bomb our houses and they kill our children and womenpeople become more resistant,” says Hani al Musawi, underlining that, in Nabi Shit, there is a great support for the resistance. This is what its supporters call Hezbollah in reference to the resistance it has historically exerted against Israel. On this occasion, the Shia communitythe main supporter of Hezbollah, did not give its mass support to the Lebanese group at the beginning of the offensive. The militia launched rockets in the direction of Israel on Monday, March 2, in revenge for the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khameneisupreme leader of Iran, demonstrating that his solidarity passes through Tehran first. The Israeli military response is being brutal, with some 900 people dead and more than one million displaced in just two weeks.

But, in Nabi Shit, there is not even a hint of reproach against Hezbollah. Rather, the opposite. “If we are here in our city it is thanks to our young peopleto our resistance fighters who are ready to fight any enemy,” defends the Mayor, Wehbe Al Mousawi, to EL PERIÓDICO. The residents of this village far from the Lebanese focus are aware that Hezbollah militiamen are the only ones who can protect them. Furthermore, the physical proximity with Syrianow a regime opposed to the Shiite group, puts them even more at risk. “We will defend our honor and our landeven if we have to die and be martyred, even if we have to stay in the streets,” the mayor shouts in the rain.

Operation to rescue a missing soldier

The name of this town jumped into the world’s showcase for a few hours because it became the setting for a movie operation. It happened last March 6. Israeli soldiers descended in the dead of night from helicopters over the battered streets of Nabi Shit until reaching the cemetery. There, they believed that there were remains of Ron Aradan Israeli soldier missing in the area in 1986in the middle of the Lebanese civil war. They didn’t find anything. And in the darkness they were discovered by the villagers. “Then they gave the order to the drones, fighter jets and everything else to fire at the same time to give them cover so they could flee”says Hani al Mousawi. That day, the people of Nabi Shit lost 41 personasincluding three Lebanese soldiers, Hezbollah militiamen and civilians. Another 31 were injured.

““We don’t have Ron Arad here.”insists Hani al Musawi. “They come to us with something that no longer exists; if it were here we would have already given it to them to live in peace”he adds. After the lethal operation, the Israeli Army recognized its failure. Even the wife of the fallen soldier asked that they not look for him if it meant casualties among the soldiers of her country. But Nabi Shit residents believe there is something more behind the constant attacks against their land. “Those who pretend to be oppressed are the oppressors of the world,” Wehbe al-Musawi denounces with exaltation, referring to Israel. “They want a State since [río] Need [que desemboca en Egipto] until the [río] Euphrates [en Siria e Irak]”he emphasizes.

Many believe that the vigor of Nabi Shit’s youth will bring ruin to the Israelis. “They commit crimes, they reach the towns because they have an objective: eliminate Hezbollah”says Hani al Musawi, the president of the municipality. “no one can eliminate Hezbollah; Israel cannot, and the United States confirms it,” he says, a few meters from the desecrated cemetery in search of the remains of a soldier who disappeared decades ago. A week after the failed Israeli operation, the rain continues to fill the crater left by one of its projectiles in the square in the center of the town. The buildings, bare of walls, show their empty interior. The Hezbollah flags They wave in every corner. “As long as Israel exists, the resistance will exist; that’s the equationthat is the reality,” concludes the senior Nabi Shit official.

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