Lebanese reach out under fire

By Martin Asser
BBC News, Zefta, southern Lebanon

Dr Hussein Faqih makes a call every three or four minutes, as he sits on his friend Fuad Nahli's balcony, overlooking one of the main roads in southern Lebanon.

Dr Hussein Faqih dispenses free medical advice across the region

He is offering free medical advice to some of the thousands of civilians trapped by Israel's bombardment of Lebanon, which started 10 days ago when Hezbollah guerrillas snatched two Israeli soldiers during a cross-border raid.

"My phone bill is going to be about $1,000 this month," he says with a shrug. "But I don't care about the money; I have to help the people."

He has just spoken to a woman in the village of Mansoureh, deep in the south, he tells me.

Her family has been unable to escape because of continued shelling, and her 56-year-old husband, a diabetes sufferer, was slipping into a coma because his medicine had run out.

The doctor calls a contact in a nearby village who volunteers to drive to Mansoureh despite the shelling and deliver the required medicine.

Invisible threat

As we are sitting, the few cars on the road travel past at great speed.

This is Zefta, on the Sidon-Nabatiya road, a stronghold of the militant Hezbollah group and the target of Israeli rocket attacks in the last 10 days.

The thunder of Israeli warplanes comes and goes overhead, although the aircraft are invisible among the white clouds and blue patches of sky.

In the 10km (six miles) between Sidon and Zefta, at least three petrol stations have been hit by Israeli air strikes - having the effect of closing all the rest, except for a few brave owners who open for a few hours of brisk business each day.

Israel justifies its action saying it prevents the Islamic Resistance, Hezbollah's armed wing, from operating vehicles used to launch their attacks.

But here there is no sign of the resistance - al-muqawama as it is called.

Zefta is ostensibly a Shia Muslim civilian area, and is too far from the border with Israel to be used to launch the rocket attacks which have hit Israel in recent days.

There are just yellow flags of Hezbollah and its allies flying from all the street lamps and posters of Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to show its affiliation.

However, a local Hezbollah official tells me - speaking on condition of anonymity - that an Israeli commando squad came by helicopter into the nearby Zahrani valley but were unable to land because of fire from the ground.

Water 'target'

In addition to the bombed petrol stations, a local medical/educational facility, a commercial centre and a woodwork factory have been destroyed along this road.

The mukhtar delivers water to needy villagers himself

Everyone insists the buildings had no connection with Hezbollah, although they admit their owners were probably supporters of al-Hizb, as it is called - just because everybody here is.

As Dr Faqih does another free consultation, the village mukhtar (a kind of community official) delivers water from a tank pulled behind his British-made Massey-Ferguson tractor.

"He does it as a service to the community," says Mr Nahli, before he adds with an ironic grin to show he is not serious, "but he charges us three times the usual price!"

Like most of the south, electricity supply to Zefta is interrupted by attacks on Lebanon's infrastructure, meaning the water supply is interrupted as well.

TV lifeline

Since television has finally replaced radio as Lebanon's medium-of-choice as a wartime information source, the Nahli family's all-important portable TV set is powered by a battery and adaptor.

Of the people Dr Faqih sees face-to-face, he says many are suffering nervous disorders from anxiety over the Israeli bombing

In this latest crisis, TV has also taken on an important humanitarian role, with the most "pro-resistance" stations, New TV and Hezbollah's own al-Manar, broadcasting the mobile phone numbers of people cut off by the bombardment or in need of emergency care.

"People give their numbers to al-Manar, and I and other doctors watch and call them up when we think we can help over the phone, or just to give them moral support," says Dr Faqih.

"That's how I was able to speak to the women in Mansoureh, and I make calls across the targeted area."

Of the people Dr Faqih sees face to face, he says many are suffering nervous disorders from anxiety over the Israeli bombing.

The attacks have caused hundreds of Lebanese civilian deaths since 12 July, and they rattle the windows along the Sidon-Nabitiyeh road every night, despite most of the explosions being far away.

"I have dozens of patients on valium, that's the most common drug I need to dispense," the doctor says.