Living under the shadow of Israeli aggression: Discussing the realities of living in South Lebanon with Zainab Chamoun
South Lebanon has been misrepresented by portraying the region as having a ‘culture of death’. In this episode, Zainab speaks about her experiences of living through the 2006 Lebanon War against the colonial settler state of Israel and the current situation in South Lebanon in light of the ongoing Palestinian Genocide. (*this transcript has been edited for the website)
In November, you wrote an article for Missing Perspectives where you outlined your experiences during the 2006 war Israel waged against Lebanon and the current genocide in Gaza. What was it like for you as a 12-year-old living through the war?
Before speaking about the 2006 war in Lebanon, I want to speak about that article and why I wrote it because it was not planned. The events of October 7th marked a turning point for many of us in southern Lebanon. Writing this article was very personal for me, it was like a release of emotions, frustration, and thoughts from my side. Just witnessing the ongoing and brutal slaughter of our people in Gaza and the escalating violence without being able to do anything took a toll on our emotional and mental well-being whilst at the same time questioning all international laws and Western lies about human dignity. It took us some time to realise and process that there is an actual genocide happening nearby and it can escalate to include our towns, our people, and our land.
This time is harder than in 2006, because in 2006 during the war felt different. There was like a certain clarity that we knew a war was underway.
Being based in southern Lebanon, by default we are included in the conflict even before October 7th. Our skies are always penetrated by Israeli drones, even if nothing is happening. You can’t help but think what would happen if the war expanded to your town. On October 8th, the southern towns in Lebanon were already being heavily attacked by Israeli airstrikes. Innocent people and families were being killed every day and this kept me wondering how we manage to live normally under this kind of constant threat of war.
This time is harder than in 2006, because in 2006 during the war felt different. There was like a certain clarity that we knew a war was underway. The current situation is marked by constant unpredictability and ambiguity. What is happening around us is something that you cannot expect. Every day in southern Lebanon, the bombing is getting deeper, day by day. Sometimes it is targeted against people affiliated with the resistance, but other times it’s random and targets cars, civilians, journalists, and photographers. You just cannot expect what will happen next and when things will escalate more.
You know, you don’t count on the system for change because this system is just rotten, and change won’t come from the people in power. Change will come from the people on the ground, from the nations, from the people who are marching, from the people who are using their platform to amplify the voice of people in Gaza and the people in Lebanon and the people in any place of conflict.
While I was writing the article, I remembered what we lived through in 2006, although I was a kid, maybe I was, I think, 12 years old. I remember I was not afraid at that time. I started to remember small details that you live through a war that nobody talks about, but they are very, very significant. Like I remember we used to say farewell to each other before we slept as a family. We used to sleep in the corridors of the house, not in our rooms so we could die together if an airstrike targeted our house.
I also remember the anxiety of having a bag ready by the door all the time so if we had to flee suddenly, we would have all our papers, money, and valuable stuff with us. I also remember my mom would sleep with the hijab on just in case we had to move immediately. These details are very significant and just thinking about them, like we put the effort to think about these small details while our lives are being threatened, is emotional.
To me personally, memories mean a lot. I live through memories and just the thought of losing old photographs and places that I used to go to shatters my heart. So, like in 2006, I packed our family photographs and diaries. I always keep them with me because I think I’m the one who can take care of them. After October 7th, even though I’m not 12 anymore when the threat of war started to take shape, I found myself packing the photographs again and this made me think, that I really couldn’t imagine what the people in Gaza are going through right now. They lost entire towns and places. They lost a lot. Even people in the southern towns of Lebanon lost a lot. The human soul is the most precious thing, but these memories are also part of our identity and existence, and they are also important.
War is ugly. No one likes war, but I’m grateful that I come from this region. Since 2006, I wanted to learn more about what was happening, because what is happening is my past. Israel has been invading Lebanon since the 80s. It is my lived reality and potentially my future, just like what’s happening right now. 2006 was a turning point in my life. I started to learn history because I had to know what was happening to me and my people. I had to understand why my people and our neighbours were being treated less than others. Why can our lands be invaded that easily? I think a great part of the empathy that we have for our people in Gaza, Syria, and nearby countries struggling with similar issues is because of the lived experience that we have.
Since, October 7th, we have seen people from Gaza who are talking in English. Imagine being slaughtered and wanting to tell the world that you are being slaughtered in a language that is not your mother tongue. We saw how many people from the West were also providing their services to translate just to reflect to the world what is happening in Gaza. War is ugly, but the amount of solidarity that we have seen on the ground is amazing. The Western solidarity that we have witnessed over the past few months also needs human conscience and belief in universal human dignity and life to be generated.
Western hypocrisy has been exposed big time. You know, you don’t count on the system for change because this system is just rotten, and change won’t come from the people in power. Change will come from the people on the ground, from the nations, from the people who are marching, from the people who are using their platform to amplify the voice of people in Gaza and the people in Lebanon and the people in any place of conflict. I think it is with the effort of the activists in the West that we can reach somewhere where there’s more hope for this injustice to end because if we continue to focus on the people in power and the system there’s no hope because we know they don’t want this to stop but the people on the ground they have the power to stop this. Of course, it’s going to take time, but at least it’s happening.
The world is ugly, and you lose a lot of people, places, and peace of mind as well, yet you become who you are today. For me, this is the most important thing, someone who does not handle witnessing oppression and sees the human value beyond nationality, geography, race, and religion.
There is a lot of unhinged commentary coming from people in power in the global north and from the Israeli Occupation Forces about continuing their colonial expansion beyond Palestine and into Lebanon. What is the situation like in South Lebanon right now?
They always threaten us with their commentaries. They like to play the mental and emotional war too. They always try to remind us that they exist nearby, whether with words or bombs or just with drones in our skies. The situation in southern Lebanon is extremely dire because there are daily attacks that are causing significant loss of lives and forced displacement. Innocent civilians, journalists, and members of the resistance have been targeted. I think more than 91 villages, I’m not sure about the figures, were attacked. Some towns have been completely destroyed and more than 80,000 individuals have been displaced.
The whole system was disrupted. The education system was disrupted. A significant number of people have died and a big percentage of them are children, just like the proportions in Gaza. Honestly, at this point, I feel figures do not matter and are not important because even if one individual was forced to be displaced from their home, this is not acceptable and should not happen. The Israeli occupation needs to be held accountable. Since 2019, the situation in Lebanon is already dire with the revolution, then COVID-19, then the Beirut port explosion in 2020 and the financial collapse.
It’s an oppressor and oppressed, and the oppressed people will resist whether the world will like it or not. We can talk about a means of resistance, but not when a genocide is happening.
The burden of displacement is weighing heavily on the people. Some families are living with host families in other regions of Lebanon. Others had to rent, and you know the prices are getting extremely high and unaffordable to them because of exploitation. Lebanon is not that easy in terms of the social fabric and the relationship between the different sects. There is that tension, there is political polarisation. Some people unfortunately took advantage of this tragedy because they thought Southerners dragged themselves into the war and they in a way oversaw the main cause of the war, which was the Israeli attacks on border towns.
I want to highlight something about this because, just like in Gaza, we have been hearing over the past few weeks a lot of blame against the resistance. At this point, I feel like no matter where you stand, ideologically from the resistance movements, no matter who they are, it’s crucial to recognise the human cost of these conflicts and just refrain from labelling all resistance movements as solely as terrorism. This adopts the Western narrative because, at the end of the day, the members of the resistance can be our friends, they can be our neighbours. They are people who we know and losing them can never be easy or insignificant. The reality is one of oppression and resistance with innocent people caught in the crossfire.
I don’t have any interest in labelling resistance movements as terrorism. It’s an oppressor and oppressed, and the oppressed people will resist whether the world will like it or not. We can talk about a means of resistance, but not when a genocide is happening. You know, it’s about balance, it’s about priorities, and it’s about the root cause of things.
So here when we speak about the human loss in southern Lebanon, yes, it is families, innocent civilians, journalists, but it’s also members of the resistance. Whether you agree with their ideology or not, these are people who believe in a cause, and they just choose to sacrifice themselves because this is how they know how to resist. I can resist with words, I can resist with art, I can resist with advocacy, and other people choose other ways of resistance, especially when you are dealing with a brutal, violent, and inhumane force like the Israeli forces.
The agriculture sector has also been affected severely as well because the war started when it was the olive-picking season. In the south, it’s a ritual and it means a lot to the people of Palestine and South Lebanon. Israel systematically targets the green fields and agricultural fields to cause economic and agricultural damage. I read somewhere more than 50,000 olive trees were lost. It’s not only about souls, but also about fields, green fields, and plants. It’s also about stray animals. Everything has been affected, but I think what keeps people going, is their spirit and belief that the cause shall never be broken.
As someone who is from and lives in South Lebanon, what do you want our listeners to know about what it is like beyond living in the shadow of occupation?
South Lebanon has been through so many wars, and for some reason, people have started to associate it with people there who just want to die. They just oversee the fact that we are not the ones who chose war. War was imposed on us and when a war is imposed on you, you need to resist and when you resist, you can risk dying.
Even when I’m here, I go out, I play tennis, I go to coffee shops, I go to the gym while random attacks are happening all the time because this land is ours. This town is ours and these people are ours.
It always intrigues me when they say it’s a culture of death because I want people to know that Southerners are people who cherish life despite the constant threat and the actual war. We continue to live, building businesses, going out, and seeking moments of joy with everything going on. The situation is difficult and it’s not that we are not struggling, but we never stop living.
Speaking about myself, ever since the events started to happen, I’m choosing to stay in the South with my family because I don’t want to risk moving to Beirut and then something bad happens. Even when I’m here, I go out, I play tennis, I go to coffee shops, I go to the gym while random attacks are happening all the time because this land is ours. This town is ours and these people are ours. These businesses are ours. It is our life. It is our daily routine. And we will never stop living just out of fear.
One of the loveliest things that is happening right now in my town, Nabatieh. Nabatieh. is around 50 kilometres away from the border. We hear all the bombings, and it was targeted directly multiple times but at the same time, there is a current cafe culture happening in Nabatieh and a lot of new coffee shops are opening frequently. As someone who works remotely, I love to work from coffee shops and every day I go to a coffee shop while everything’s happening around us.
We have lived experiences together, with other people from Nabatieh. We hear the bombings together, we hear the drones together, we discuss the war together and we check up on each other every time an airstrike happens. I think this sense of community makes us much stronger and more attached to life. I feel like it’s essential even when I post a story, I’m playing tennis, and the drone is up in the sky or I’m in a coffee shop and something happens nearby.
My friends in Beirut and the mountains, just text me because they are so worried. They ask me how I’m living and how I’m going out. I’m like, yeah, it’s bad, but I mean, what’s going to happen is going to happen and just witnessing what’s happening in Gaza makes you feel like whatever happens to you will be insignificant. This fear is insignificant compared to what is happening to our neighbours’ miles away.
It’s essential to recognize that the war is not our choice. We are people who love to live. Just because a lot of resistance movements were generated from South Lebanon, it does not mean that they are merely embracing death but on the contrary, from their system of belief, they are finding value in sacrificing their life for a greater cause. I want to hint that resistance goes beyond religion. They come from all religious backgrounds. We deserve to be remembered and mentioned beyond labels that are imposed by sometimes, unfortunately, local media in Lebanon and at the same time, mainstream international media. Southerners just love to live until the end.
What are some practical ways our listeners can support people in South Lebanon and Palestine?
At this moment, just talk about us. Talk about Palestine. Use your privilege. Use the relatively calm or ease that you live within in the West. I mean, it’s essential. It’s essential to keep the plight of Palestinians and everyone affected by conflict in the headlines. We are living at the core of the crisis and sometimes it gets emotionally challenging to be involved all the time and active all the time, we need other shoulders to lean on who are our people in Europe and the US.
The things I share on my platform make a difference, but at the same time, my audience is from my side of the world. They all know what I’m talking about. We need more international platforms, just like what you are doing right now to help us make our voice heard and to give more visibility to people in Gaza, South Lebanon and beyond. Of course, a lot of crises are happening around the world. I acknowledge we cannot be updated about every single one and we can get tired, but at least we need to try especially when we compare the privilege we are living in with others.
The most important thing is to always be driven by empathy because no amount of brainwashing can justify what is happening to a human being, the brutality that is happening to a human being.
After the war started, a lot more people started to use their social media platforms to spread awareness and advocate for justice. They are producing incredibly powerful content, and it would be helpful to follow these people and support them because they are the most reliable sources of information. You can get your information from them because they lived through the experience.
You know how algorithms work nowadays. It’s very restricted and it doesn’t reach a lot of people. It would be helpful to shed more light on these accounts. I know that a lot of accounts in Gaza were largely disseminated and widespread, if we can also add links to profiles from South Lebanon because these have not widely been shared, it would help disseminate messages.
Donations can also provide much-needed support to families facing displacement and economic hardship. It’s important to pay attention to the local context in Lebanon and to the GoFundMe pages. We need a mediator to be able to receive that money because a lot of people in Lebanon do not have access to bank accounts because of the financial collapse. It’s good to consider other avenues of donations and of course, all for trusted organisations and not random ones.
Another way could be by providing more remote jobs for people who were displaced and people from our region because, since COVID, working remotely has become much easier. A lot of jobs can be done remotely. There are incredible people, incredible writers, translators, journalists, photographers, accountants, you know, and the list goes on and on. It’s good to diversify the pool more and consider talents from Gaza, South Lebanon, and this region right now. They need support because all their life was disrupted, and all their routine was disrupted.
Until Palestine is free, let’s keep, you know, just talking, telling stories, advocating, and supporting in every possible way. The most important thing is to always be driven by empathy because no amount of brainwashing can justify what is happening to a human being, the brutality that is happening to a human being. I encourage everyone, even if you don’t know history, even if you are confused about where to stand, just to stand with the humans. Don’t accept anyone being killed in such a brutal way. Just don’t accept anyone’s dignity to be devalued.
Guest: Zainab Chamoun
Zainab Chamoun is a Lebanese researcher and journalist based in Beirut. She holds an MA in Media Studies from the American University of Beirut. Her work focuses on the intersections of community-led development, religion and politics, decolonisation, and affect studies. She has experience in interfaith dialogue and community engagement with adventures in Lebanon, France, Iran, Iraq, and beyond. She aspires to become an active player in making the world a more inclusive and just place through critically condemning injustices with words and actions, networking with voices from around the globe, and sharing locally rooted knowledge beyond dominant colonial approaches.
If you would like to learn more about Zainab’s work you can follow her on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
If you would like to support content creators from South Lebanon by amplifying their voices, please follow: