Watch: Lebanese dance and cheer under missiles heading for Israel

Telegraph

4 hours ago

A saxophonist belts away at a rooftop bar as partygoers gaze up at a glittering arc in the night sky.
It looks like a perfect night out, except what's lighting the scene isn't sparkling stars – it's a barrage of missiles fired from Iran to Israel.
Elsewhere in the city, a wedding party is filmed dancing along to music as the attacks continue.
This is Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, some 75 miles as the crow flies to the still contested border with Israel.
To outsiders, it might seem surreal. But for many in Lebanon – a country invaded three times by Israel and attacked countless more times – war involving its southern neighbour is nothing new.
Many even feel vindicated by the daily volley of fire that Iran has returned to Israel, in retaliation for Benjamin Netanyahu's massive strike early Friday morning that set off a significant escalation in regional tensions.
'I don't know what will happen, but it's payback to Israel,' said Ibrahim, a 25-year-old port worker. 'We didn't expect Israel to be this stupid. Iran is a big state with a lot of territory.'
For many Lebanese, the Israelis have long posed a serious threat, given the latter's expansionist ambitions – into Lebanon, Gaza, and even Syria and Jordan. In fact, three of Israel's five borders remain disputed.
That Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist group, is based in Lebanon has always been Israel's justification for bombing further and further north beyond its borders. A tenuous ceasefire was agreed only last November after Israeli forces assassinated the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Many here feel that things are coming full circle now, that this is perhaps fate.
Israel's war in Gaza, nearing two years, has not helped those sentiments, as the military's operations have perpetrated a huge humanitarian catastrophe among the Palestinian community. The death toll is now more than 55,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Some in Beirut hope that the Israelis might finally, upon experiencing such pain, come to understand the extent of the violence Israel has inflicted upon others in the Middle East for so long.
'It's a taste of their own medicine,' said one woman at a downtown cafe.
At the same time, there is nervousness and hesitation about getting drawn into the fighting.
A loud boom that rang across central Beirut Tuesday morning startled many – a reflection of how the public remains on edge, despite the party scenes indicating otherwise. The explosion sound, in the end, turned out to be a truck tyre popping.
Lebanon has battled crisis after crisis, from the economy to corruption to war, in just the past few years.
The country, some say, is tired, and cannot afford more setbacks from yet another crisis – especially as a formal government was only installed six months ago after more than two years without a president in place.
It's a message that Joseph Aoun, the new Lebanese president, and Nawaf Salam, the prime minister, reiterated on Monday – that the country needed to stay out of the conflict.
But that's a tall order for a nation that, despite drawdowns and ceasefires, technically remains at war with Israel and is still home to Hezbollah, an armed group that forms the centrepiece of Iran's 'axis of resistance'.
Brutal fighting with the Israeli military, plus devastating attacks last autumn, have significantly weakened Hezbollah, but the terrorist organisation retains a fury in spirit and a capacity to fight.
That it could be unleashed at any time to divert and dampen Israeli military resources, energy and attention means Hezbollah – and other Iran-backed militant factions in the region – could inflict further damage still.
A reminder of that is, perhaps, reflected as images of Nasrallah continue to beam down from billboards in Lebanon.
'It's not over for Iran just because they killed a few generals, a few scientists,' said Ibrahim.