SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Most Jewish Israelis serve in the military. And Israel has a social contract. It does everything it can to bring its soldiers home, alive or dead. The search for one Israeli soldier who was captured 40 years ago in Lebanon still goes on. Last week, an Israeli raid into a Hezbollah stronghold in the Beqaa Valley surprised the town and killed civilians and armed militants. NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi visited the town and has this report.
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: In the center of the town of Nabi Chit, in the Beqaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, Mayor Hani Moussawi (ph) studies a huge crater in the ground.
HANI AL-MOUSSAWI: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "The whole center was struck with rockets. Who knows how many tons," he says.
(SOUNDBITE OF BULLDOZER MOVING DIRT)
AL-SHALCHI: A bulldozer moves the dirt around. A yellow Hezbollah flag is pitched on a mound of soil. Moussawi stands under the leaky roof of a nearby building that was damaged by an Israeli strike.
AL-MOUSSAWI: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "There is no Ron Arad. We don't have him here," Moussawi says.
Ron Arad is an Israeli airman who went missing in 1986 after parachuting from a fighter jet that crashed in Lebanon. He was captured by gunmen from a Shia Muslim militant group called the Believers Resistance and taken here to Nabi Chit. It's widely believed that Arad is dead. Arad is a legend in Israel. Songs have been written about him.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "K'SHETAVO")
BOAZ SHARABI: (Singing in non-English language).
AL-SHALCHI: Fast-forward 40 years, and the Israeli military is again at war with militants in south Lebanon and are still looking for the missing serviceman, this time in a raid late at night in Nabi Chit, on March 6. Mayor Hani Moussawi says following an Israeli evacuation order, troops first drove through the streets of Nabi Chit, scouting the town.
AL-MOUSSAWI: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "The Israeli soldiers disguised themselves in the ambulances," the mayor says.
The Lebanese army later said that the Israeli forces dressed in Lebanese army uniforms and used ambulances as a disguise. The Israeli military has not responded to an NPR request for comment. And then around midnight, Moussawi says the actual raid began.
AL-MOUSSAWI: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "Drones filled the air, and helicopters flew low," he says. He says the Israeli troops made it to the local cemetery.
AL-MOUSSAWI: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "They started digging, but the grave they targeted was empty. Nothing was there," he says.
According to locals, the Israeli soldiers were discovered. Moussawi says that's when armed residents and Hezbollah militants rushed to fight the soldiers.
AL-MOUSSAWI: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "The clashes were violent," he says.
To help facilitate their escape, the Israeli forces began to bomb across town.
AL-MOUSSAWI: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "Fighter jets began striking," Moussawi says. Buildings, including homes, a bakery and a printing shop, were turned to rubble.
A local resident dressed in black, standing nearby, lifts his pant leg to show an injury he sustained after picking up his gun and joining the fight that night. The fighter, who says he doesn't belong to Hezbollah, doesn't want NPR to use his name for fear of repercussions from the Israeli military.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "It was like the action movies you see on TV," says the fighter. He says he felt it was instinctive to pick up his weapon.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "It was for my land, my honor," he says.
Moussawi says more than 25 civilians, including children, were killed as a result of the strikes.
AL-MOUSSAWI: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "A building housing three families, a grandfather like me, all were killed," he says.
The Lebanese army says three off-duty soldiers were killed in airstrikes on their home, and a Hezbollah official said 10 militants were killed in clashes with the Israeli military. The Israeli military said it didn't find Arad's body that night. Arad's wife, Tami Arad, has said she doesn't want to sacrifice the lives of Israeli soldiers to find her husband.
(SOUNDBITE OF BULLDOZER MOVING DIRT)
AL-SHALCHI: Back at the crater in the middle of Nabi Chit, men take shelter from the rain, smoking cigarettes and watching the bulldozer work. Left with the remains of the raid, Mayor Moussawi says however violent or frightening that night was, he'll never leave Nabi Chit.
AL-MOUSSAWI: (Non-English language spoken).
AL-SHALCHI: "We belong to this land, to these homes, and have been here for thousands of years," he says.
Hadeel Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Nabi Chit, in the Lebanese Beqaa Valley.
(SOUNDBITE OF JILL CLARIAN'S "VINING VIBE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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