Omer Shita does not want another war, but thinks Israel may need one if his family are ever going to return to their home on the country's northern border.
He has put his life on hold - living a long way from his wife and children, working part-time from a laptop - so he can patrol the empty streets of Snir kibbutz, set in green hills with views of the first villages inside Lebanon.
But he is no longer sure the rest of Israel shares his commitment to bringing the evacuated community back. On a recent patrol he stopped to tease a friend weeding the front garden of his abandoned house for having too much hope.
"Safi still thinks he has a future here," Shita said with a laugh, pointing to the man who had briefly set his gun aside to garden in the sunshine.
Hezbollah fighters are just a few kilometres away, in Lebanese hills and villages across the valley. They have been trading fire with Israeli forces since 7October, when Hamas launched its cross-border attack out of Gaza.
Within weeks about 80,000 people had been evacuated. Border towns, villages and kibbutzim are now ghost communities.
Most people will not return, Shita believes, unless Hezbollah are forced back from the border - even if a ceasefire in Gaza brings a deal to end hostilities and the government declares the north safe.
The security equation changed when about 3,000 militants from Gaza broke across the southern border, kidnapping 250 people and killing 1,200.
Residents' fears are heightened by the belief of many in the Israeli security establishment that Hamas copied a Hezbollah blueprint for their attack.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 22, 2024-Ausgabe von The Guardian Weekly.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 22, 2024-Ausgabe von The Guardian Weekly.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Moving Back To Moscow: How Dream Of Freedom Unravelled
The army of riot police had finally retreated from Tbilisi's Rustaveli Avenue, the broad thoroughfare in front of the parliament building, back into the barricaded parliamentary estate.
News Of Raisi's Death Met With Fireworks And Few Tears
Activists in Iran have said there is little mood to mourn the death of the president, Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan on Sunday.
Red Flag? Alito Scandal Casts Doubt On Supreme Court Impartiality
With less than six months to go before America chooses its next president, the US supreme court finds itself in an unenviable position: not only has it been drawn into a volatile election, but swirling ethical scandals have cast doubt on its impartiality.
Infected blood Final report vindicates the families still awaiting justice
\"We have been gaslit for generations,\" was the reaction of Andy Evans, chair of the campaign group Tainted Blood, in response to the final report into the contaminated blood scandal, which was published on Monday.
The race to evacuate Vovchansk's remaining residents
Rescue operations ever more dangerous as fighting reaches Kharkiv townat the centre of Russia’s latest offensive
Alice Munro 1931 -2024
The Nobel prize winner whose masterly accounts of ordinary lives in smalltown Canada elevated the short story into the highest form of literature
Creativity takes root
From Nikide Saint Phalle's Tuscan Tarot Garden to Barbara Hepworth's coastal oasis, artists’ green spaces are about somuch more than plants
Tory war on overseas students is all about saving their own skins
A key turning point in British politics was Tony Blair's famous priorities: \"education, education, education\".
Catalans once longed for freedom, but it doesn't look so appealing now
For the first time since 1980, parties opposing Catalonia's independence from Spain have the support of a majority of voters in the region.
I believe that Ricky's law has saved lives, it has changed lives, restored families'
Ricky Klausmeyer-Garcia’s friends struggled to get him addiction treatment, leading to the creation of alawin his name. Buta year after his death, profound questions remain about how best to help those with substance use disorder in the US.