Marhaba.
I live in Lebanon, Aley district. Israeli airstrike targets are at proximity of my location. Beirut, and particularly Dahieh, is completely visible from my balcony. There are also refugees sheltered in my town.
Other things to know about me: I am a leftist, and a legal and political writer.
P.S. I will answer anything (as it is with AMA posts), not only issues pertaining to the recent events.
I know the divisions in Lebanese society can be fairly extensive, but this seems to have outraged my (many, close) friends of Lebanese origin across the board. Is it the same there?
Is there any chance of the politicians unifying in resistance? I know the Lebanese army could probably effectively resist an Israeli incursion if it and the various faction militias banded together.
I didn't understand your first question. Can you perhaps reformulate it?
The lebanese army is powerless from a political and technical standpoint. It's extremely underfunded and, more flagrantly, its biggest funder is the United States: a fat conflict of interests. There were for example propositions to receive funds and new equipment from Russia but the US threatened to pull the plug on its funding.
That is an interesting point. The mainstream narrative has always put Hezbollah's militia as an antagonist to the army.
I think my first question is...what is the level of unity in the general populace, is there any consensus on how to respond to the incursion, separate from the Government?
Despite the divisions that cut deep into the political fabric, there is always unity in times of crisis when facing an external threat. Many citizens have gladly opened their homes for refugees for free, some enterprises are providing them with free services and so forth. When it comes to military resistance, Hezbollah holds a monopoly over it, especially after all other political groups were disarmed after the end of the civil war in 1990.