‘Mafia tactics’: How Hezbollah intimidates Christians, steals southern Lebanese property

‘We’re talking about extortion, forcing Christians to pay protection money, burning houses and cars and kidnapping businessmen,’ said Elias Zarina, co-founder and community manager of the Jerusalemite Initiative.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

The phone rests on the car’s dashboard filming nothing out of the ordinary as it passes the green pasture of the southern Lebanese village of Aanquon.

The driver carefully lifts the phone, as if to take a selfie, but there’s no cheerful smile on his face. In the background over his shoulder — on the other side of the street in front of a small house — is a rocket launcher attached to a truck.

It passes out of view as the car drives past. But it is unmistakable.

The video, shared with The Press Service of Israel, is a symbol of the “mafia tactics” Hezbollah has adopted in southern Lebanon, embedding its forces in Christian communities, stealing property and extorting business owners.

“For almost 20 years, Hezbollah groups have been systematically oppressing Christians in southern Lebanon, seizing homes and factories for use by Hezbollah members,” one southern Lebanese Christian told TPS-IL after evacuating to Beirut.

He works in health care in the town of Marjayoun, but otherwise insists on anonymity. “I will be killed along with my family members on charges of collaborating with Israel, without trial or justice, [but with] executions in public squares.”

Elias Zarina, co-founder and community manager of the Jerusalemite Initiative, a Jerusalem-based non-profit that encourages Arab-speaking integration into Israeli society has been hearing similar stories from his contacts in Lebanon.

Zarina is also a researcher and specialist in the Middle East’s Christian and other minority communities.

“Hezbollah uses mafia tactics in south Lebanon,” he tells TPS-IL. “We’re talking about extortion, forcing Christians to pay protection money, burning houses and cars and kidnapping businessmen. Those are the tactics they use. The Lebanese government doesn’t do anything. It’s dominated by Hezbollah.”

Lebanon’s 2.24 million Christians make up one-third of the country’s population.

“The Lebanese avoid sharing these stories because they’re afraid. If there’s an attack from Israel, if Hezbollah sees you filming, they take your phone or camera and break it. Not just Christians, but Muslims too. They’ll be in trouble. Everyone’s afraid,” Zarina said.

‘They Show Up in the Village’

Explaining the video, Zarina told TPS-IL, “Hezbollah stores the trucks and launchers at a facility in, say Nabatieh. When they’re ready to fire, they show up in the village and choose a time to launch it.” The home beside the launcher is Christian, he added.

“Radical Islamic terrorists all have the same strategy,” Zarina explained. They always want to pressure Christians to force the Western countries to go against Israel. They want to put Christians between them and Israel to portray Israelis as Nazis.”

Aanquon is a microcosm of what Hezbollah is trying to achieve.

“In 2000, before Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon, Aanquoun was about two-thirds Christian,” said Zarina. “Today, Christians are about 18%. From 2000 to today, the Christian population shrunk. Hezbollah has been trying to take over the houses, forcing them to leave. Hezbollah’s goal is to take control of all of south Lebanon and store missiles inside private homes. The more property they control, the safer it is for Hezbollah figures to operate.”

Said the anonymous health care worker to TPS-IL, “The Christian world must understand that Christians in Lebanon in general – and in the south in particular – have become an ethnic minority after they were masters of this country. Iran occupied Lebanon through its arm,” referring to Hezbollah.

The evacuation from southern Lebanon has exacerbated those tensions. A well-respected southern Lebanese Christian who tweets anonymously under the name Sobalaan, wrote on Friday, “They monitor empty apartments and expatriate homes, and there may be subsequent attempts to break into them.”

Zarina adds that his contacts have shared reports of empty Christian homes being looted by Hezbollah.

When Israeli forces abruptly withdrew from southern Lebanon in May 2000, members of the Southern Lebanese Army, a Christian militia that worked with Israel fled, mostly to Israel or North America. But the Christians who were not associated with the SLA stayed because “They thought they were safe,” Zarina said.

“But they’re the ones being pressured to sell their property to Hezbollah.”

Asked if he has any message for the Israelis, the resident told TPS-IL, “We trusted them [Israelis] and fought together against the terrorists, and in the end, they betrayed the covenant and gave southern Lebanon to the Shi’ites,” without elaborating.

After the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, the Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets and launching drones at northern Israel communities, killing 49 people.

According to figures released by the government on Sept. 29, more than 68,000 residents of northern Israel are displaced from their homes. Hezbollah leaders have repeatedly said they would continue the attacks to prevent Israelis from returning to their homes.

Israel’s war goals include securely returning northern residents to their homes.

Israeli officials demand that Hezbollah to be disarmed and removed from southern Lebanon in compliance with UN Security Council resolution 1701 which ended the Second Lebanon War of 2006.

This includes all areas south of the Litani River such as the cities of Nabatieh and Tyre, as well as the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.

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