\u201cWe\u2019ve seen so many wars in that country. … This has been something that\u2019s been part of my life ever since I was a young boy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s very personal, and it\u2019s very sad.\u201d <\/p>\n
Farhat\u2019s concerns are echoed by others in New England, where more than 55,000 Lebanese people live, including some 31,000 in Massachusetts.<\/a> They fear relatives will be caught up in the conflict and are concerned for the future of Lebanon amid an escalating war that has forced people to flee their homes and claimed the lives of hundreds.<\/p>\n Many of them who Farhat has spoken with at his century-old parish in New Bedford, which serves the Lebanese Maronite community, say their biggest concern is the escalating humanitarian crisis the country is facing, Farhat said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see the sadness, the concern,\u201d Farhat said. \u201cMany of us have family over there, and it\u2019s been a very difficult situation to see and watch unfold.\u201d<\/p>\n The latest fighting intensified in early March, when Israel launched strikes in southern Lebanon after the Iran-allied Lebanese group Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel. This came after the United States and Israel killed Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel has accused Hezbollah of supporting Iran, according to The New York Times<\/a>. <\/p>\n Israel and Hezbollah had been under a cease-fire since November 2024, following another war between the two sides, though Israel had been hitting targets in Lebanon since then, according to the Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n Israel has said even after the war with Hezbollah, it plans to occupy part of southern Lebanon<\/a>, setting up a buffer zone inside the area and keeping security control over the territory. Some analysts say that the move could lead to the permanent displacement of communities from the region.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fear then is that the whole map of the country is being transformed,\u201d said Ibrahim Warde, an adjunct professor at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.<\/p>\n Warde said there is panic among Lebanese people that the attacks have extended beyond just the southern part of the country, Hezbollah\u2019s stronghold.<\/p>\n \u201cThat has created a sense of panic everywhere else and that no one is off-limits,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Since March, more than a million people have been displaced from the southern part of the country and at least 1,200 have died in Lebanon, the Associated Press has reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve left everything, left their homes, their livelihood,\u201d Farhat said. \u201cThere are people who are sleeping on the streets because there\u2019s no place for them.\u201d<\/p>\n The Lebanese community in the US is also torn about speaking about what they are going through, said Matthew Thomas, a Lebanese American attorney based in New Bedford, and a longtime member of the Our Lady of Purgatory Church. <\/p>\n Those with immediate family in Lebanon are living with constant fear that the violence and the war might come for their relatives, Thomas said. At the same time, they are protective of their community here in the US; it\u2019s where they feel safe. They don\u2019t want to bring negative attention to the rest of the diaspora by articulating their concerns about the war, he said. <\/p>\n Over the last century, Lebanon has found itself embroiled in conflict<\/a> in one form or another, Thomas pointed out, leaving generations who have known nothing but war. <\/p>\n \u201cYou have children that have grown up through nothing but war, and if a child grows up learning how to survive through a war, it\u2019s amazing that they can lead a productive life,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just amazes me, the resilience of the Lebanese people.\u201d<\/p>\n Lara Jirmanus, a Lebanese American physician in Greater Boston, said that part of her fear is that Lebanon could experience similar devastation that Gaza has gone through over the last two years.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine where it begins and ends,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it\u2019s really heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n Jirmanus said she feels luckier than the people in Lebanon caught in the middle of a war who are denied a chance at a normal life. <\/p>\n She had planned on taking her two children to visit family in Lebanon over the summer for the first time. But now, she does not feel like it will be safe for them.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just feeling really heartbroken at this point,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Omar Mohammed can be reached at omar.mohammed@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him on Twitter (X) @shurufu<\/a>.<\/p>\n