Anxiety, resignation in Beirut as residents worry about an Israeli attack

Beirut, Lebanon — Jad Barazi’s roommates nowadays keep their windows open. Not for the air — but so they won’t shatter from a sudden blast.

Working on her laptop in a cafe in Hamra, a bustling Beirut neighbourhood, the 27-year-old entrepreneur said she is coping with anxiety in anticipation of a possible large-scale Israeli attack on the city. Since moving to Lebanon more than a year ago, the French-Lebanese national says she has gradually grown accustomed to living in a country locked in a low-scale conflict with Israel.

But since a deadly rocket struck the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last week, killing 12 children, Beirut has been gripped by a state of tension as its residents brace for a major Israeli attack.

Israel has blamed the Golan Heights attack on Hezbollah, but the Lebanese armed group has denied responsibility. Israel has said the group will pay a “heavy price”. Since October 8, when Israel and Hezbollah started firing missiles at each other in the backdrop of the war on Gaza, Lebanon has found itself in the middle of fighting that it hopes does not boil over into a full-blown conflict.

Now, with Israel threatening retribution for the Golan Heights deaths, those fears have exploded.

“I’m a bit anxious because I’m reading the news about this every day,” Barazi told media.

“I’m not so scared, but I just want this [attack] to happen because then we can all move on from this,” she added.

On Tuesday, it did happen.

Israel does not seem to want to trigger an all-out war and may limit its attack – or attacks – to Hezbollah targets, experts told media.