Against the background of the noise of exploding rockets and constant Israeli drone strikes, the people of southern Lebanon living in the port city of Tyre have decided to defy the hostilities to soak up the sun’s rays and party.

Anyone who doesn’t follow the news would not believe that just a few kilometres away towns have been destroyed in the daily rocket fire and people are getting killed.

“Coming here is an act of survival in a country where nothing is working,” Batoul Ezzedine told dpa while she was sunbathing on the beach in Tyre.

A war has been brewing in the area for months on the Lebanese-Israeli border, but the recent increase in fighting suggests that the two sides could be on the verge of a much more dangerous escalation.

Clouds of smoke can often be seen rising in the distant sky, while Israeli warplanes frequently fly overhead, sending forth loud booms as they break the sound barrier.

The buzzing of Israeli drones is a constant noise as they hover, waiting for the chance to strike a passing vehicle driven by members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia; The presence of the drones is an indication that the war is getting closer to Tyre and even to the capital Beirut, which is almost 85 kilometres away.

Since October 8, a day after the war broke out in Gaza, there have been daily battles between the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and the Israeli army. The Gaza war was prompted by unprecedented attacks from the coastal strip by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement on Israel that resulted in 1,200 deaths.

Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with its ally Hamas, but the daily exchange of rockets between the movement and Israel on the northern border are increasing by the day. Hezbollah says it will only stop when there is a ceasefire in Gaza.

More than 400 people have been killed in Lebanon so far, most of them Hezbollah members. Around 50 civilians have also been killed. In Israel 16 Israeli soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in attacks from Lebanon.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah would be destroyed in a “total war,” while Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned that “no place” in Israel would be safe if Lebanon is attacked.

These counter-threats have reminded many Lebanese of the 33-day war which Israel launched on Lebanon in 2006 targeting Hezbollah that destroyed much of the infrastructure of the country as well as killing more than 1,000 civilians and displacing thousands.

“People are in a dilemma: Either you sit home and listen to news all the time and become more stressed or you come to the beach for a few hours to relieve the daily tension,” said Hassan Siklawi.

But for Ghassan Hudruj, a small restaurant owner near the beach, things are not as good as a just a few weeks ago.

“Many of my customers who are from Beirut and other areas close to the capital are not coming any more, and I can understand them. You cannot persuade people outside the south to come and try to pretend that life is great. No it is not great and we are affected by it,” Hudruj said.

Less than 1 kilometre from the beach where people were enjoying the sunshine and drinking cold beers, displaced Lebanese who have fled from their border village have been living in tiny classrooms in several schools, where they have to combat the heat, electricity cuts and an increasingly strained economic situation.

“I have been living in this small classroom with my 11-year-old son and husband since October 2023. We do not know for how long we will stay here, but it seems that our stay will be very long,” Fatima from the border village of Blida said.

“We do not know where we are heading. We are facing the unknown – and Lebanon is on verge of destruction,” she said.

The ongoing war is not the only thing Lebanon is fighting: The country has been reeling since 2019 under the worst economic crisis in its history.

But despite all the economic woes, threats and the escalation down south, in the capital Beirut things look totally normal: Pubs are buzzing, music lovers attend concerts, luxurious weddings are held and restaurants are full of people who have come to spend their summer with their families.

Fadi al-Hassan, general director of civil aviation at Rafik Hariri International Airport told dpa that in June alone the airport welcomed some 408,000 people.

“These are great numbers and are almost close to numbers in June 2023, when arrivals stood at 427,000,” al-Hassan said.

He stressed that the recent tensions “have not affected the number of arrivals so far.”

“If I were to follow logic, I shouldn’t be sitting here,” said 25-year-old Tamara, sipping a drink in a bar in the Mar Mikhael district.

“But we live in a country in which nothing is logical. Life is too short and I have to enjoy it,” 23-year-old Aziz said.