「安全な場所などない」　イスラエル軍の攻撃に揺れるキリスト教徒の村　レバノン

【アイト（レバノン）ＡＦＰ＝時事】レバノン北部の村に住むエリー・アルワンさん（４２）は、南部から避難してきたイスラム教シーア派の家族を自宅に受け入れた。ここならば安全だと思っていた。（写真は、イスラエル軍の攻撃を受けたレバノン北部のキリスト教徒の村アイト）
　しかし１４日、アルワンさんの村もイスラエル軍の空爆に遭い、シーア派の家族は全員が犠牲となった。４階建てだった家は破壊され、アルワンさんの母親も負傷した。「わが家で虐殺が起きたんだ」とアルワンさんは言った。
　北レバノン県ズガルタ地区にあるアイト村は、キリスト教徒が多数を占める。これまで、シーア派組織ヒズボラを主に標的とするイスラエル軍の攻撃は受けたことはなく、平和だった。
　ところがレバノンの国営通信社ＮＮＡによると、今回初めて受けた攻撃で、南部からの避難民を含む２３人が殺害された。うち、１２人が女性、２人は子どもだった。
　全員が殺害されたシーア派の家族は、アルワンさんの１５年来の知人だった。「彼らはちゃんとした人たち…家族だった」。がれきの表面に残った血痕を指さしながらアルワンさんは言った。「友人として彼らを迎え入れたんだ」
　地元議員や治安当局者の情報によると、今回の空爆は避難していた家族を訪れたヒズボラ関係者を標的にしたものだったとみられている。
　攻撃はレバノン北部全域に衝撃を与え、国連人権高等弁務官事務所（ＯＨＣＨＲ）からは徹底した独立調査を求める声が上がった。
　国境を挟んだイスラエルとヒズボラの１年に及ぶ衝突は、９月２３日にイスラエル軍がレバノン東部、南部、そして首都ベイルート南郊のヒズボラ拠点への爆撃を激増させたことでエスカレートした。
　多くの人が、キリスト教徒の村々を含むレバノンの山岳地帯に避難したが、避難民を受け入れる側もその代償を恐れるようになった。
　■「もう避難民を受け入れない」
　アルワンさん宅のすぐ隣に住む兄弟のサーキスさんは「私たちはキリスト教徒で、キリスト教は寛容を教えている。だが、今では教訓を学んだ。もう家族の家に誰かを受け入れることはしない」とＡＦＰに語る。
　サーキスさんは具体的な組織名は挙げなかったものの、イランの支援を受けるヒズボラが、レバノンをイスラエルとの戦争に引きずり込んだことに怒りを示し、イスラエルの主要な同盟国である米国には「かなわない」と述べた。
　教会の広場のそばに立っていた高齢の女性は、「イスラエル軍にいつ攻撃されるのかと常に恐怖を感じている。ヒズボラの指揮官がどこにいようと、イスラエル軍は狙うはずだから」と不安を口にする。
　だが、話が避難民に及ぶと、その声には同情がにじんだ。「かわいそうに。安全な場所に逃げたはずなのに。今や安全な場所などどこにもない」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/10/17-17:04）

Elie Alwan sheltered a displaced Shiite family from southern Lebanon in his peaceful Christian-majority village, believing they would be safe -- instead an Israeli air strike killed them, destroyed his home and injured his mother.
The October 14 strike on the north Lebanon village of Aito in the Zgharta district killed 23 people, including at least 12 women and two children, many of them displaced from south Lebanon, according to the official National News Agency.
It's a massacre that happened in my home, said 42-year-old Alwan.
The attack, which wiped out an entire family, was the first time the mountain village has been struck by Israel, which has mostly targeted Shiite-dominated Hezbollah strongholds.
The four-storey building where Alwan lived was destroyed and the displaced family whom he had known for 15 years were wiped out.
They were a decent family, said the father of four, blood stains still visible on the rubble-strewn ground beside him.
I welcomed them as friends.
Michel Moawad, an MP opposed to Hezbollah and a native of the region, said the strike targeted a member of the pro-Iranian militant group.
A security official, speaking anonymously to AFP, said the strike occurred just after a man arrived by car at the building to visit the displaced family.
I blame the man who came here. Why did you put us in this mess? said Alwan, who is now forced to rent a house in the coastal town of Chekka, several kilometres (miles) away.
He was not there during the strike, but his mother was wounded in the leg and was being treated in hospital.
- 'Learned our lesson' -
As excavators worked to clear the mountain road a day after the strike, the stench of corpses hung in the air and human remains lay in a ditch at the side of the road.
A statue of Saint Charbel Makhlouf, a Christian Maronite was intact but surrounded by destruction.
The strike sparked alarm across Lebanon's north and prompted a call for an independent and thorough investigation from the UN rights office.
We have real concerns with respect to... the laws of war and the principles of distinction, proportion and proportionality, spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters on Monday.
A year of cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah escalated on September 23 when Israel dramatically increased its bombing of Hezbollah strongholds in the country's east, south and Beirut's southern suburbs.
The bombing sent many people fleeing to Lebanon's mountains, including Christian villages which are coming to fear the cost of hosting displaced communities.
We are Christians, our religion teaches us tolerance. But now we have learned our lesson. We will no longer welcome anyone into the family home, said Alwan's brother Sarkis, who lives just next door.
Sarkis did not name Hezbollah but suggested he was angry with the powerful Iran-backed group for dragging Lebanon into a war with Israel.
We are no match for the United States, Israel's main ally, said Sarkis.
Nearby, Adele Khoury was unequivocal in her condemnation of the militant group.
Hezbollah has brought us into a war from which we can no longer escape, she said.
Standing beside the church square, the elderly woman said she feared Israel's string of assassinations of Hezbollah officials would leave no community unharmed.
We are afraid every day that Israel will come and target us, because wherever there is a (Hezbollah) commander, they target him, she said.
But when talking about the displaced, she was more sympathetic.
The poor things, they fled to safe areas, but now nowhere is safe.