Avi Nadiv is tired of the war. But he also hopes it doesn’t end any time soon.
Mr. Nadiv is the deputy mayor of Metula, a town at the northernmost tip of Israel that has become almost lifeless as the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran enters its sixth week. That conflict quickly spawned a violent second front when Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, which is allied with Tehran, launched a volley of rockets into Israel on March 2 in retaliation for the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The streets of Metula have been deserted since then, lined with buildings damaged by Hezbollah rocket fire from either this war or the last round of fighting, which ended just 15 months before the new conflict began.
Among the structures damaged in the 2024 war is the Canada Centre, one of only two hockey rinks in Israel. The town’s main synagogue was also damaged and remains boarded up.
On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump said the U.S. had agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, subject to Iran agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He had spent days threatening escalated attacks to destroy the country’s bridges and power stations if the strait remained closed.
Before the deal was announced, Tehran had signalled that it was not interested in a temporary ceasefire on Mr. Trump’s terms, indicating that it wanted to see an end to the attacks on Hezbollah, and the lifting of all U.S. sanctions, as part of any peace agreement.
In Metula, any deal that brings a swift end to the war in Lebanon won’t be viewed as real peace. After three Israel-Hezbollah wars in the past two decades, Mr. Nadiv said the 2,000 residents of his town want Israel’s military operation inside Lebanon to go on until the Shia militia is completely destroyed.
“I want the war to continue until Hezbollah is gone,” Mr. Nadiv said on Sunday as Israeli jets roared overhead en route to another round of air strikes on Lebanon. He said the Israeli military – which has declared it will occupy some 1,000 square kilometres of Lebanese territory up to the Litani River to prevent Hezbollah from returning to the border area – should be prepared to go even deeper into Lebanon and to stay “two or three years” if necessary.
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Israel currently has six divisions of troops and tanks operating inside Lebanon, where it says it is creating a “security zone” that will involve the demolition of homes to prevent the 600,000 mostly Shia Muslim residents of the region from returning. Defence Minister Israel Katz has cited the Gaza Strip – where entire cities were razed during Israel’s two-year war against Hamas – as a model for south Lebanon.
New York-based Human Rights Watch has said that Israel’s forced displacement of Lebanese civilians “is a possible war crime.” Israeli peace activists, meanwhile, have warned against another prolonged stay in southern Lebanon, pointing out that Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation of the region is what initially gave birth to Hezbollah.
More than 1,500 Lebanese, as well as 11 Israeli soldiers, have been killed in the fighting so far.
The scale of the destruction is visible from Metula, which is bounded on three sides by Lebanese territory.
The ruins of Kfar Kila, a once-vibrant market town of 15,000 people, can be seen on the horizon, its homes and shops reduced to piles of broken concrete.
There’s little sympathy in Metula for the plight of their former neighbours, whom residents here view as having supported and harboured Hezbollah.
“I don’t want to say,” is Mr. Nadiv’s answer when asked how it feels to see the neighbouring Lebanese villages destroyed. “I want good neighbours, not Hezbollah.”
Batya Lupo, head of preschool education in Metula, said children in her town have gotten used to the shelters and sirens over the wars of the past 2½ years, dating back to the Oct. 7, 2023, assault on southern Israel by Hamas. Hezbollah again joined that conflict by launching rockets at southern Israel, starting a tit-for-tat exchange of strikes that erupted into full-scale war in October, 2024.
Ms. Lupo, 52, said her own five children and two grandchildren have all grown up with the threat of Hezbollah attacks.
“We have to change this reality,” she said, sitting in the town’s main administrative building, much of which is constructed underground so that it can double as a bomb shelter. “We have to go all the way in this war. We should go to the Litani, or to Beirut if necessary, and stay as long as we have to.”
It’s not just Metula that’s ready to keep fighting. A recent opinion poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 81 per cent of Israelis supported the war against Iran. Although the survey didn’t ask a separate question about the fighting in Lebanon, there’s likely even more support for Israel’s fight against Hezbollah.
“The majority of Israelis don’t want to see the war over, but even if we arrive to a ceasefire with Iran, we cannot link it to southern Lebanon and Hezbollah,” said Yoseph Haddad, a prominent Arab-Israeli social-media influencer who was visiting Metula on Sunday. “We must finish the job here. This is literally fighting for our security and our future.”
There are, of course, those who disagree. Small anti-war protests were held Saturday night in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa.
The peace rally in Tel Aviv drew a reported 1,000 people, exceeding a court-mandated cap of 600. Police forcibly broke up the protest and arrested 17 people.
The detainees were kept on a bus and prevented from going to a nearby bomb shelter, even as an air-raid siren warned of an incoming missile. The Israeli military later reported that the missile “fell in an open area,” causing no damage.
Standing Together, the left-wing group that organized the demonstrations, said they would hold more protests this coming Saturday. “We will not let them silence us,” the group said in a statement.
Facts Only
Avi Nadiv is the deputy mayor of Metula, a town in northern Israel.
Metula has been largely abandoned due to the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, now in its sixth week.
Hezbollah, allied with Iran, launched rockets into Israel on March 2, 2024, in retaliation for the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Metula’s streets are deserted, with buildings damaged by Hezbollah rocket fire from the current or previous conflicts.
The Canada Centre, one of Israel’s two hockey rinks, and the town’s main synagogue were damaged in the 2024 war.
President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran, contingent on Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has signaled it is not interested in a temporary ceasefire on Trump’s terms.
Israel has six divisions of troops and tanks operating inside Lebanon, aiming to create a "security zone" up to the Litani River.
Over 1,500 Lebanese and 11 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting.
Human Rights Watch has stated that Israel’s forced displacement of Lebanese civilians may be a war crime.
A recent poll found 81% of Israelis support the war against Iran.
Small anti-war protests were held in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, with police breaking up a Tel Aviv rally and arresting 17 people.
Executive Summary
Full Take
The strongest version of this narrative highlights the deep-seated fear and resolve among Israeli residents in border towns like Metula, who see Hezbollah as an existential threat requiring total elimination. The article effectively captures the human cost of prolonged conflict, from deserted streets to damaged infrastructure, while also presenting the geopolitical stakes—Trump’s ceasefire offer, Iran’s resistance, and Israel’s military strategy. It balances perspectives by including voices of war supporters and critics, as well as the ethical concerns raised by Human Rights Watch.
However, the framing leans toward emotional exploitation (ARC-0012) by emphasizing the suffering of Israeli civilians while downplaying the scale of Lebanese civilian casualties and displacement. The article also risks false equivalence (ARC-0024) by juxtaposing small anti-war protests with overwhelming public support for the war, potentially minimizing dissent. The historical context of Israel’s past occupation of Lebanon is mentioned but not deeply interrogated, leaving unstated the paradox that prolonged military presence may fuel the very insurgency it aims to crush.
Root causes include the cyclical nature of Israel-Hezbollah conflicts, where each round of violence deepens mutual distrust and hardens positions. The assumption that military force alone can secure long-term peace remains unchallenged, despite historical evidence to the contrary. The narrative echoes the "Dahiya Doctrine," Israel’s strategy of disproportionate retaliation to deter future attacks, which critics argue perpetuates cycles of violence.
Implications for human agency are stark: civilians on both sides bear the brunt of destruction, while political and military leaders frame the conflict as a zero-sum struggle for survival. The second-order consequences—radicalization, generational trauma, and the erosion of diplomatic trust—are barely addressed.
Bridge questions: What would a sustainable security arrangement look like beyond military occupation? How might the voices of Lebanese civilians, absent in this narrative, reshape the discourse? What historical precedents suggest that prolonged conflict resolution is possible, and what conditions made them successful?
Counterstrike scan: A coordinated influence campaign would amplify civilian suffering in Israel while dehumanizing Lebanese casualties, framing the war as an unavoidable clash of civilizations. The article does not fully match this pattern, as it includes critical perspectives and acknowledges ethical concerns. However, the emotional weight tilts toward Israeli resilience, which could be exploited by actors seeking to justify escalation.
Sentinel — Human
This article appears to be human-written. The author exhibits variance in sentence length, hedging density, and shows idiosyncratic emphasis, personal voice, or stylistic fingerprint, indicating a human touch. However, the lack of clear argumentative structure or talking points commonly associated with synthetic content does not necessarily confirm it as such.