Feature: Border residents in S. Lebanon live with caution as regional tensions rise

BEIRUT, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Jamal Haidar opens his small shop every morning in the Lebanese border town of Khiam, arranging goods on narrow shelves and greeting familiar faces from the neighborhood. To an outsider, the routine looks ordinary. But behind his calm demeanor lies a constant unease shaped by years of living on a fragile frontier.

"Experience has taught us to watch everything carefully," the 30-year-old shop owner says quietly. "Any big confrontation in the region usually echoes here."

Across southern Lebanon, a climate of caution and anticipation is spreading as U.S. and Israeli threats against Iran escalate, raising fears that a wider regional confrontation could once again spill over onto the Lebanese-Israeli border, an area long vulnerable to the aftershocks of regional crises.

From Naqoura in the west to Shebaa in the east, daily life continues, but anxiety is growing. Residents say the sharp rise in political and military rhetoric is enough to revive old fears, even in the absence of clear signs of imminent escalation on the ground.

In Khiam, Haidar describes what many feel as a "fragile sense of safety." He points to the Lebanese Army's presence along the Blue Line separating Lebanon and Israel, coordinated with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has intensified patrols and monitoring.

In a recent statement, UNIFIL said that it continues to work with all parties to maintain stability along the Blue Line, calling for restraint to avoid further tensions.

"The anxiety in the border areas is not only about security," says Qassem al-Qadri, head of the Union of Municipalities of the Arqoub villages in eastern South Lebanon, "It directly affects already fragile living conditions."

Any escalation, he warns, could disrupt agriculture and local trade at a time when Lebanon is suffering from a severe economic crisis and deteriorating basic services.

In the Wazzani plains near the border, farmer Khaled al-Mohammad sees the immediate impact on the markets and work. "People postpone decisions because of uncertainty and lack of clarity about what's coming," he says.

He stresses the need to keep Lebanon out of regional conflicts, warning that the country has limited capacity to survive another confrontation.

The anxiety came amid rising regional tensions, especially between Iran and the United States, with the latter bolstering its military presence in the Middle East.

Iranian Army Chief Amir Hatami warned Saturday that if the United States makes any mistake, it will definitely jeopardize its own security and that of Israel and the entire West Asia region.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces, citing threats from Hezbollah, continued to carry out strikes in Lebanon despite a ceasefire taking effect on Nov. 27, 2024, while maintaining positions at five key points along the Lebanese border.

Political analyst Nidal Issa says southern Lebanon remains highly sensitive to regional escalation, despite the continued observance of what he describes as "unwritten rules of engagement."

"Life in the southern villages continues at its normal pace," he notes, "but there is a general sense of waiting. People hope the regional tensions will not turn into a new confrontation." ■