Christian villagers trapped in south Lebanon crossfire [Video]

Lebanese Christian Joseph Jarjour was hoping for a peaceful retirement at home in south Lebanon, but has instead found himself caught in the crossfire of the Israel-Hezbollah war.

“We’re trapped,” said the 68-year-old retired teacher in the southern village of Rmeish, around two kilometres (one mile) from the Israeli border.

After almost a year of cross-border fire, Israel began conducting a wave of strikes targeting Hezbollah strongholds and sent ground troops across the border late last month.

Jarjour’s hometown is among a handful of Christian villages in south Lebanon that have largely been spared the worst of the violence but remain caught between the two sides.

“When Israel bombards, it flies over our heads. And when Hezbollah fires back, it also whizzes by above,” Jarjour told AFP by phone during a rare moment of internet connectivity.

“We’re peaceful, we don’t have any weapons. We’ve never liked war,” he said.

“We …