Anxiety grips northern settlers, fear Al-Jalil ground op: Reports

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Israeli media
25 Dec 2023 19:56
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The mayor of "Kiryat Shmona" expresses the anxiety of the northern settlers: saying they go to bed fearing that thousands of Al-Radwan Forces soldiers could march into Al-Jalil the next morning.

Lebanese shepherd Ali Yassin Diab, right, shepherds his cattle flock on the Lebanese side of the Lebanese-Palestenian border in the southern village of Wazzani with border village Ghajar in the background, Lebanon, Tuesday, July 11, 2023 (AP)

The Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, reported that several regional council heads of northern settlements have convened to discuss the dire conditions that the settlers in the north are going through.

The newspaper's correspondent in the north explained that the talks regarding the battle in the north primarily focused on retaliating against Hezbollah and catering to the tens of thousands of displaced settlers.

They also observed that, in addition to the severe economic losses, there is a regional sense of distress and anxiety following the events of October 7th and, most importantly uncertainty about when the residents will be able to return.

The correspondent reported that local authorities in the north have been requesting budgets for years to protect tens of thousands of residents on the front lines along the Lebanese border.

Despite having long feared the moment of truth, the correspondent added that they did not anticipate facing a battle like this.

For 80 days, the northern settlements have been on edge: anticipating an imminent war, the correspondent reported. They dread the war because they understand the tremendous risks that the war holds.

Mayor of "Kiryat Shmona", Avihai Stern, said they were not surprised by the events of October 7th but had rather experienced the manifest danger of a threat they had long dreaded, Yedioth Ahronoth quoted him saying.

He added that in 2018, Hezbollah released a video explaining how it would march into Al-Jalil, and the Israeli authorities treated it as if it was an exaggeration. They underestimated the threat; they dealt with it in the way the army dealt with threats in the South before October 7th.

Today, the authorities look at it differently, he added. They understand that in a split second Hezbollah could breach the walls and that won't end weel for "Israel".

The mayor of "Kiryat Shmona" recalled the difficult days in previous wars: noting that he had spent weeks and months in an underground shelter with dozens of other people in a 20-meter-long room.

"We understand that it [war distress] is inevitable now, but it is even harder to live in a house knowing that one morning, thousands of the Radwan Forces, can invade as has happened in the south."

On his part, Arkadi Bomrani, the mayor of the "Ma'alot-Tarshiha" settlement which is located about 6.5 km away from the Lebanese border and inhabited by about 26,000 settlers, said that after evacuating all the surrounding settlements, "Ma'alot-Tarshiha" became the front line of fighting in the area.

Bomrani said that despite not being in a state of war, a general mood of despair has gripped the settlements in light of this limbo state of war anxiety.

"We sit in the shelters, knowing that we have to hide. This an intolerable unsustainable situation."