RED BANNERS that hang across bridges above the main roads leading north in Israel contain one word: “Abandoned”. It is a word that is repeated in almost every conversation with the few residents remaining in the near-deserted towns and villages near the border, which have been under fire for eight months from Hizbullah, the Iran-backed movement that controls Lebanon. It is also an accusation levelled at the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, which has failed to come up with a solution to the unrelenting barrage of missiles and explosive drones that Hizbullah began firing on October 8th, the day after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel’s southern communities. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbullah, recently vowed to continue the attacks, insisting that his group is acting as a “support front” for Hamas.
“We’re like ducks in Nasrallah’s shooting-range,” says Gidi Sayada, a winemaker from Safsufa, a village that has not been evacuated. “My daughters have been sleeping in the safe-room of our house for the past eight months.” This undeclared war in the north has largely kept to an unwritten set of rules. Hizbullah has shelled mainly targets close by the border and military bases. Israel has responded with targeted strikes on Hizbullah operatives, in some cases deep inside Lebanon.