People mourn during a funeral procession for two members of the Lebanese Civil Defense in the southern coastal city of Sidon on Wednesday. The two were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, a day earlier. Photo by Wael Hamzeh/EPA
BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 13 (UPI) -- After enduring more than five decades of wars, conflicts and hardships, Lebanese people probably have seen it all.
However, the severe human and material toll of the ongoing Israeli-Hezbollah war has deeply shaken their renowned resilience, leaving them clinging to the hope that this will be the last conflict.
For most of them, the recent war proved to be the final straw, prompting questions about its futility after it enabled Israel to reoccupy and devastate parts of southern Lebanon that had been liberated in 2000 -- except for a few disputed border areas -- largely through Hezbollah's guerrilla resistance.
What began on Oct. 8, 2023, as a Hezbollah "support front" for Gaza involving limited and relatively contained cross-border fighting soon evolved into a broader military conflict that cease-fire agreements have so far failed to stop.
