In south Lebanon, resistance from cradle to grave

One family's allegiance to Hizbullah reveals much about the group's support and how it draws fighters.

from the June 7, 2007 edition

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The younger brother, 20, relished his first battle "One hundred percent it felt very, very good." He was just 14 or 15 when he "first began to think about the resistance, to understand it," he says. At 17, "the idea was complete in my mind. I felt I must be there and join [Hizbullah]."

In the war, he didn't become a "martyr," like his friend, whose image can be found on what locals call the "hero's wall."

Portraits of the village's nine most recent martyrs mark the wall in the village's central square. "When I see those portraits, I wish I could be there," says the younger brother.

"As long as there is an enemy, the idea of martyrdom is there, like Imam Hussein," says the older one.

That enemy has been Israel and the proxy South Lebanon Army (SLA) militia that it created during its 18-year occupation of south Lebanon that ended in 2000. One brother from this family and a cousin were forced to join the SLA. The brother was taken away as a recruit in 1993 by the SLA directly from high school where he was taking an exam to enter college. In less than a month he escaped: angry and ready to join Hizbullah.

"They became Hizbullah in their blood," says one sister. "Every human loves freedom, and the freedom has come through Hizbullah."

Today, the families of martyrs receive their dead fighter's salary and $10,000 to pay rent while houses are rebuilt (often with money from Iran). That does not make the cycle of war and rebirth less of an effort or less painful."What we lived through and felt because of the war, felt like we were living in Karbala," says another daughter, referring to the city where Imam Hussein was killed by the armies of a Sunni caliph.

The family matriarch laughs when asked if her aim has been to raise martyrs. But her daughter replies, "Of course I would feel proud to marry and have children, if they die for their village, their family, their beliefs; I would feel proud."

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