Lebanese reactions to rocket fire on Israel show support for Hezbollah is waning

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The origin of the rocket fire Friday at northern Israel’s Har Dov area, also known as Sheba Farms, wasn’t immediately clear. The finger was pointed at Palestinian or rebel groups seeking to challenge Hezbollah during the deepening crisis in Lebanon.

But when Hezbollah claimed responsibility, it wasn’t in any way a declaration of an all-out scenario. The Iran-backed group has the capacity to target communities or military bases, but it plays by the rules of the game: Israel struck an open area in Lebanon without causing damage or inflicting any casualties, so the response was the same. Hezbollah’s deputy chief, Naim Qassem, underlined this message by saying the objective was to maintain a balance of deterrence.

But the real drama wasn’t the cross-border fire. Residents of the Druze village of Chouaya located the launcher and gave the Hezbollah operatives who fired the rockets a piece of their mind. Footage shared online shows how they threatened a young man in his car, who seemed terrified.

Within moments, Lebanese social media was abuzz: Does Hezbollah have the right to fire at Israel? The footage of the Druze who found the vehicle from which Hezbollah fired the rockets went viral: Is he a hero or a traitor? It depends who you ask.

Some people in Lebanon accused Hezbollah of trying to deflect attention from the country’s economic and political crisis, while others claimed that the organization’s response was called for, considering the events of the whole week, with the firing at Kiryat Shmona in the north and the ensuing Israeli response in Lebanon. Publicly, the leaders of the Druze sect in Lebanon followed Hezbollah’s line, which says the group has a right to act against Israel.

Whether this is an earnest position or a forced one, the Druze leaders in Lebanon have little room to maneuver. They know who controls the balance of power.

In the footage from Chouaya, a Hezbollah operative is clearly frightened, but a broader view shows that no one wants a direct clash with the organization, whose power even exceeds that of the Lebanese army. That’s why the group opted for a quick finish, trying to put out the flames of a potential escalation.

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The Druze weren’t supportive. If they want to shoot, the Druze wondered, why do it from a Druze village? And if Israel responds, why should this village have to be on the frontline? The Druze also tried to figure out who were the smaller groups firing rockets from their areas in southern Lebanon, and why Hezbollah was being dragged in their wake.

Hezbollah no longer enjoys the popular support it had before the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Fifteen years later, Lebanon is collapsing, both economically and socially. Everyday Lebanese once trusted Hezbollah to the point that they were willing to endure flames and destruction, but now they’re trying to find food, medicine, fuel and electricity.

True, Lebanon has been suffering for years from sectarian and political rifts, but it always seemed capable of overcoming the difficulties, even after a bloody civil war. Now it seems it has lost its bearings and badly needs resuscitation. Since the massive blast at Beirut’s port a year ago, the bleeding hasn’t stopped. Lebanon is now a country waiting for someone to put it out of its misery.

The debate over where aid should come from – the American-Saudi axis or the Iranian one – also polarizes Lebanese public opinion. Any decision carries a political and diplomatic price, and as long as there is no agreement, the Lebanese people will continue on their trail of suffering and anguish.

The latest incident on the border may have been a cause for concern for some Israelis planning to head north over the weekend, but in Lebanon it’s seen as another step in the widening rifts and the disintegration threatening the country’s future.