BEIRUT: Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport saw a large influx of passengers on Saturday as Lebanese expatriates and tourists ignored hostilities in the south and went to celebrate the Eid Al-Adha holiday.
European embassies had previously issued warnings against visiting Lebanon due to the tense security situation, but this did not deter expatriates and visitors, mainly from Iraq and Egypt, arriving for Eid.
On the eve of the holiday, there was a noticeable discrepancy in the prices of sacrificial animals on the Lebanese market and an unjustified increase in meat prices.
Majed Eid, secretary of the Syndicate of Butchers, Importers and Livestock Traders, said imports of sacrificial animals from abroad have dropped this year compared to previous years.
The security situation in the Tire area has led to a reduction in shopping as Eid approaches, despite the significant influx of expatriates that typically spur trade and economic activity there.
Tire Traders Association secretary Ghazwan Halawani said Eid preparations seemed ordinary and there was no noticeable improvement in trade activities, sales or the number of visitors to the market.
He attributed the decline to concerns about military operations on the border and Israeli attacks on civilians.
On the eve of Eid Al-Adha, thousands of families from the southern region returned to their villages near the border despite hostilities.
Issa, a butcher, planned to spend the holiday with his family even though his neighborhood had been subjected to sporadic bombing over the past few months.
“Nothing will happen to us except what God has ordained for us,” he said.
Eid will be a challenge for people in the south, especially those who left their villages eight months ago.
Eid Al-Adha is posing serious challenges for displaced southerners as nearly 100,000 people have been forced to flee their villages.
Nabatieh Governor Hwaida Turk told Arab News that 65 towns in Nabatieh province were subjected to “systematic shelling and fires as a result of Israeli attacks.”
She said some cities were almost destroyed.
Turk said residents of frontline towns, especially Marjayoun and Hasbaya areas, did not return for Eid.
However, the villages and towns in the rear are filled with displaced people, alongside their original inhabitants.
She said people in the southern region tried to celebrate Eid with hope despite difficult economic conditions.
Hezbollah continued retaliatory attacks on Israel on Saturday, days after one of its commanders was killed in an airstrike.
Air attacks on both sides intensified, with Hezbollah saying it launched an attack “using a fleet of suicide drones against the Khirbet Maer base, destroying part of it.”
The attack was in response to the killing of senior Hezbollah commander Sami Hassan Taleb, nicknamed Abu Taleb, along with three others in an Israeli attack on their location in Jouaiyya several days ago.
Israeli Army Radio reported that a fire broke out in the western Galilee settlement of Goren after several Hezbollah drones struck the area.
As part of the escalation, Hezbollah targeted the headquarters of the air surveillance and operations management unit at the Meron base.
Israeli media reported that “the target was two anti-tank missiles fired from the Meron base.”
Hezbollah said it struck a group of Israeli soldiers at the Hadab Yaron facility with a rocket, killing or wounding several people.
Early Saturday morning, an Israeli military drone attack killed a motorcyclist at the Bint Jbeil-Maroun Ras intersection. Another person was injured as a result of the fire.
The outskirts of Deir Mimas and the Aaziyyeh hill were shelled with phosphorus, causing forest fires to break out.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee stated that “an air force plane targeted a Hezbollah vandal in Aitaroun,” adding that “the Israeli army fired artillery into the area.”