The conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah has dramatically intensified over the past week, marking a dangerous escalation in the nearly year-long conflict. The crisis began with a series of coordinated attacks targeting Hezbollah’s communication devices, including pagers and walkie-talkies, which exploded during use. While Israel has not officially admitted to it, the country is suspected of orchestrating these strikes which caused harm to Hezbollah operatives and resulted in civilian casualties across Lebanon, sparking widespread concern. According to a US official who chose to remain anonymous, Israel allegedly manipulated Hezbollah’s pagers, installing a remote-controlled detonation device that could be activated remotely.
Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate, and on Friday, October 3, 2024, the militant group launched a wave of rocket missiles into northern Israel. However, that same day, a response strike was carried out by the Israeli force which killed Nasrallah and dozens more people in Beirut.
Israel also launched a series of strikes that killed more than 490 Lebanese after warning residents in southern and eastern Lebanon to leave their homes ahead of a spreading air campaign against Hezbollah.
The decade-long conflict
The invasion marks a dangerous new phase in the long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, an Islamist militant organisation and Lebanese political party that has fought Israel since its founding in 1982 due to Israel’s involvement in several civil wars that resulted in the death of close to 3,500 Palestine and Lebanese civilians.
Although the two sides have fought on and off over the decades, Hezbollah has been engaged in more intense fighting with Israel since the October 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas, Palestine in 2023.
Hezbollah has since expressed commitment to continuing missile strikes into Israeli territory until Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza, where at least 40,000 Palestinians have been killed but Israel has shown no sign it is contemplating ending its operations, either.
How the war affects Nigerians
According to the Lebanese Embassy in Abuja, an estimated 5,000 Nigerians are living in Lebanon. Many migrants work as domestic workers and students on scholarships in Lebanese universities.
Despite plans to evacuate Nigerians from the warring state, the federal government has revealed that Nigerians are less inclined to return to Nigeria as only 500 people have registered for evacuation with the Nigerian Embassy in Beirut, the country’s capital, as the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah intensifies.
Speaking with Punch, the Nigerian community president in Lebanon, Imoleayo Oyedeji, says, “Some people have come forward to register their names and some other Nigerians are just watching. They want to see whether the war will escalate beyond a bearable level before they move. So, I only have names of a few people that want to go immediately.”
However, the Nigerian government has expressed commitment to providing support to all Nigerians who wish to return.
This is a developing story.
