“From [the first Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in] 1978 to now, I’ve never left. I’ll never leave,” said local baker Khaled Othman, as he stood at the roadside assessing the damage from a recent strike that the Israeli military said targeted Hezbollah infrastructure.
“My family are not here anymore. They are kids and elderly so they are in Beirut, but I stayed here”.
He said he had “seen a lot” happen to Tyre in his lifetime, but had remained even as it was all but deserted in the last war between Israel and Hezbollah, which lasted over a year.
Khaled, 63, said he had briefly had to leave his bakery and home this month following warnings from the Israeli military of an impending strike, but moved 300m away (1,000ft) for safety and immediately returned to find his business intact but with shrapnel damage.
He said he was no longer able to make a living from his bakery because almost all his customers had fled. Israel’s strikes in the city were not just targeting Hezbollah but “hitting civilians” too, he said.
“If they want to have a war with Hezbollah, have a war with Hezbollah… What do we have to do with this?” he asked.
Hezbollah have strong support in southern Lebanon, and Khaled – who stressed that he is “not affiliated with anyone” – said Israel’s military campaign would not affect this.
“They can’t force everyone to hate Hezbollah. Each person has a preference here in Lebanon – we have a mix,” he said.