Farmer Ghassan Hassan and his labourers have been toiling tirelessly to reap olives in fields close to Lebanon’s southern border, undeterred by close by Israeli bombings and the whirr of surveillance plane.
Olive harvesting is a important supply of earnings for villagers, however this yr the season has coincided with tit-for-tat cross-border exchanges between Israeli troops and the Iran-backed Hezbollah because the Israel-Hamas struggle rages in Gaza. It’s been reported that the exchanges have additionally concerned Hamas’s Qassam Brigades and Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s al-Quds Brigades.
“Plane hover over our heads day and night time whereas we work, making the employees anxious. They generally get so frightened they depart,” mentioned Hassan, in his 50s, who’s selecting inexperienced and purple olives close to the city of Hasbaya.
“This yr is not like those earlier than,” he added.
As he spoke, one among his employees obtained information that his village had been hit by a bombardment. Stopping work, he frantically tried to name family with trembling fingers. When he heard they have been all secure, respiratory a sigh of aid he returned to work.
Since Hamas fighters stormed throughout the Gaza border on October 7, killing 1,400 individuals, Israeli warplanes have been bombarding the Palestinian territory, killing near 10,000.
The violence has additionally triggered a wave of unrest alongside the Israel-Lebanon border.
At the least 63 individuals have been killed in Lebanon, based on an AFP tally, principally fighters but additionally 5 civilians. Eight troopers and civilians have been killed on the Israeli facet of the border.
The escalating exchanges of fireplace have made olive selecting close to the border notably harmful. However regardless of the frequent shelling close by and continuous buzzing of reconnaissance plane, the farmers haven’t stopped working their land.
