Lebanese hold their breath as mediators scramble to avert all-out war

The Middle East is in turmoil. International diplomacy is in overdrive. Many in Israel, Lebanon and Iran have something in common this time – a war on nerves.

They worry and wait for what will happen next. It felt like the whole area was holding its breath.

Is this a trend toward all-out regional war? Can a ceasefire be achieved in the ruins of Gaza? How will Iran and its proxy militia Hezbollah retaliate against the back-to-back Israeli assassinations in Beirut and Tehran? Will they heed calls for restraint?

In Lebanon, the sweltering summer is shrouded in a layer of anxiety.

A heart-pounding sonic boom interrupted the din of Beirut traffic as Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier above.

Many foreigners followed the advice of their own governments and left. Many Lebanese also fled.

Others can’t help themselves – like the 30-year-old chef at a trendy cafe (there are too many of them in places like Beirut). She has tattoos and an outspoken personality but declined to give her name.

“Living in Beirut is like being in a toxic relationship that you can’t escape,” she told me.

“I’m emotionally attached. I have family abroad and I could leave, but I don’t want to. We live day to day. We also joke about the situation.

The next moment, she admits that her business has suffered and that she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. “It’s like a cold war for us,” she said. She expects a hotter game but hopes it will be short.

International mediators are crisscrossing the region, working overtime to prevent the conflict from escalating. U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein is one of them.

“We still believe that a diplomatic solution is achievable,” he said, “because we still believe that no one really wants a full-scale war between Lebanon and Israel.”

He spoke after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah, in Beirut on Wednesday.

When a reporter asked if the war could have been avoided, Hochstein responded: “I hope so, I believe so.” But he added that the longer time passes, the greater the chance of accidents and mistakes.

Israel and Hezbollah last fought in 2006. The war lasted for six weeks and caused significant damage and casualties to Lebanon. More than 1,000 Lebanese civilians were killed, as well as up to 200 Hezbollah fighters. Most of the 160 Israelis killed were soldiers.

All parties agree that the new war will be deadlier and more destructive.

Many in Lebanon believe the country cannot afford it. The economy is paralyzed and the political system is dysfunctional. The government can’t even turn on the lights.

“I hope there won’t be a war,” Hiba Maslkhi said. “Lebanon will not be able to cope.”

We met the 35-year-old man in tracksuits on a slide on Beirut’s waterfront. Fishing rod in hand, she focuses on the Mediterranean Sea.

“My hope is that wiser heads will prevail,” she said, “and that we can control the escalation before it gets out of hand.”

She feels emotional about every sonic boom. “If I hear a sound, I start to panic and I wonder if they [Israeli forces] Attacked near my home or bombed the airport.

Hiba, who makes a living selling perfume, said Lebanon had suffered enough.

“Ten months is a long time for us hiding at home, and it can be psychologically devastating,” she said. “We are afraid of making money through entrepreneurship because we think war might be coming.”

The conflict began last October when Hamas gunmen stormed out of Gaza and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel.

Hezbollah soon joined in, firing on Israel from Lebanon. Shia Islamist armed groups and parties, listed as terrorist organizations by Britain and the United States, say they operate in support of the Palestinian people.

Hezbollah and Israel have been fighting since October, causing tens of thousands of people to flee on both sides of the border and killing more than 500 people in Lebanon, mostly militants. Israeli officials said 40 people were killed there, 26 of them soldiers.

An Israeli attack in Beirut in late July killed a senior Hezbollah commander, raising fears of a wider conflict.

Israel accuses him of launching a rocket attack in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights that killed 12 children.

Gaza is already an all-out war and, at last count, Israel has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas health ministry figures – figures the World Health Organization considers credible.

Gaza is Ayman Saqr’s biggest concern. He went fishing with Reba, but their views were very different.

The 50-year-old taxi driver insisted that Lebanon would respond if a full-scale war broke out. “There are some concerns, but we can deal with it,” he told us. “Ultimately we will defend ourselves. If we die, it doesn’t matter.

He was quick to pay tribute to the hundreds of Hezbollah fighters killed by Israel, as well as the militant group’s leaders.

“I salute the resistance and those martyrs from the bottom of my heart,” he said. “I salute Hassan Nasrallah who made us and all Arabs proud. Everyone is worried about Israel, so the 39,000 people it killed Woolen cloth?

Ayman, a father of five, said the horror in Gaza was undeniable but ignored.

“Every day the world sees children, women and the elderly being slaughtered on camera and no one notices,” he said. “People’s children are being killed before their eyes. Where in the world are they? Those who are silent are complicit.

Sheba remains hopeful that a full-scale war can be avoided.

“No one has the right to kill anyone,” she said, “neither organizations, nor political parties, nor militias. I hope that the new generation will be smarter than the previous one.