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In Southern Lebanon, Weary Resignation
A medic checks the ID of a man killed in an Israeli missile strike so it can be written on his coffin. The man was killed as he drove a van away from Sidon.
(By Kevin Frayer -- Associated Press)
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"My nerves are good now," Ruz said, smiling.
He glanced at the movie. "It's the way it is. It's not going to change. I guess I'll live in my home and die in it."
In cities such as Sidon and Tyre, the longer the war drags on, the longer many feel it will last.
Sidon, relatively unscathed, still maintains a sense of urban life, with shops open and people on crowded sidewalks; the streets of Tyre remain largely deserted. At least two Israeli attacks on cars in the city and on its outskirts Sunday abruptly cleared traffic. Convoys brought food to Tyre, but drivers judged the roads too risky to venture into the hinterland. Gasoline was scarce. Sami Haddad, the economy and trade minister, estimated there was enough fuel for two days in the south, a week elsewhere.
"Is there a solution?" asked Afif Khouri, a 60-year-old barber out of work since the war started. "There's no solution."
Khouri sat with his friend Bassam Baghdadi on Tyre's seafront, spending a boozy afternoon. Two beer bottles, five coffee cups and two packs of cigarettes were spread over the table at a cafe, overlooking boats that, given the Israeli naval blockade, dare not venture to sea. Seven young boys got out of the water, laughing as they strolled past bored fishermen in idle conversation. Fishing nets were piled up on the edge of the harbor, snarled and unused. Fishermen lately have used dynamite thrown from the shore to gather fish.
"The two, Israel and Hezbollah, deserve each other," Khouri said. "Is that not true? It's correct."
Baghdadi nodded. "We're the playing field here," he said.
Khouri beckoned the cafe owner. "Get me another beer," he shouted. Baghdadi brought himself another cup of coffee.
In the war's first days, Baghdadi had taken his wife, 16-year-old son and twin 9-year-old daughters to the mountains above Beirut. He rented an apartment for $10 a day, but was without electricity and had too little water and food. Sixteen days, and he came back to Tyre. He deemed his house, on the city's outskirts, too unsafe, so he moved in with his sister-in-law near the downtown.
"Next I'm going to swim out into the ocean," Baghdadi said.
Khouri smiled, dusk starting to soften the sun on the blue and turquoise waters of the Mediterranean.
