A recent exchange of gunfire between supporters of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement in a southern Lebanese town has exposed growing tensions between the two Shiite groups, as residents increasingly fear that Hezbollah's military activity could draw Israeli strikes onto their homes.

The incident in Arab Salim, in the Iqlim al-Tuffah region of southern Lebanon, involved men affiliated with Amal and others linked to Hezbollah, according to local sources cited by Erem News. It was not the first reported confrontation between supporters of the two allies in recent months, but the circumstances surrounding the latest dispute have raised questions about growing unease over Hezbollah's weapons and movements in residential areas.

A local source with organizational ties to Amal told Erem News that the exchange followed an attempt by Hezbollah to bring fighters and weapons into the town, which is divided between supporters of Hezbollah and Amal, and to distribute some of the weapons among homes belonging to Hezbollah supporters.

The move reportedly prompted objections from Amal supporters, who fear that storing weapons or sheltering fighters in residential areas could turn civilian neighborhoods into targets for Israeli strikes.

The source said Amal members confronted Hezbollah over its movements in Arab Salim after receiving information that some homes were being considered for use as shelters for fighters and storage sites for weapons. The dispute escalated into gunfire, which began with men affiliated with Amal before Hezbollah members intervened, the source said.

Hours later, another altercation linked to the same activity reportedly took place, suggesting the dispute was not simply a personal disagreement between individuals from the two groups.

Fear of Israeli strikes

The tensions have taken on added significance after Israel struck a building in Arab Salim over the weekend, reinforcing residents' fears that military or security activity associated with Hezbollah in populated areas is being monitored by Israel and could expose the town to further attacks.

On Sunday, Israel issued an evacuation warning to residents near what it described as a Hezbollah facility in Arab Salim before carrying out strikes there. Lebanon's Health Ministry said two women were killed and several people wounded in the town. The strikes were part of a broader Israeli attack on southern Lebanon that killed four people and wounded 20, according to Lebanese authorities. Israel said the strikes came in response to two Hezbollah drones launched toward its forces.

The nature and quantity of the weapons mentioned by local sources could not be independently verified. The source said they were believed to include rocket launchers and small-arms ammunition.

The dispute reflects a dilemma emerging in several parts of southern Lebanon: residents are increasingly unwilling to bear the consequences of military activity over which they have little or no say, particularly after years of conflict have destroyed thousands of homes and displaced large numbers of southerners.

Local reports have also spoken of families close to Hezbollah leaving several villages in the Iqlim al-Tuffah area in recent weeks. The departures have heightened residents' concerns and prompted questions about whether the families had received warnings or information about the possibility of a new Israeli escalation.

Their departure coincided with increased security activity, further fueling anxiety in the area.

Not an isolated incident

Arab Salim is not the first southern town where tensions between the grassroots supporters of Hezbollah and Amal have emerged over Hezbollah's weapons and movements.

In Kfarhatta, tensions erupted between members of the two groups earlier this year after an Israeli strike. The Lebanese army arrived at the targeted site, while Hezbollah members reportedly tried to prevent people from approaching it. The army intervened and contained the dispute.

In Bazouriyeh, Bissariyeh and other areas, local objections and complaints have also emerged in recent months over military or security activity that residents fear could attract Israeli attacks.

The leaderships of Amal and Hezbollah have repeatedly moved to contain such tensions and prevent them from developing into an open political confrontation.

What makes Arab Salim particularly significant, however, is that the dispute reportedly involved an attempt to prevent fighters and weapons from being brought into homes in the town and ultimately escalated into an armed confrontation between members of two forces that have maintained a close political and security alliance for decades.

The incident therefore offers a glimpse into a potentially more difficult problem for Hezbollah: opposition to its military presence is no longer confined to political debate or state institutions, but may increasingly be expressed by residents living alongside its activities.

Berri and Hezbollah face different calculations

The clashes do not indicate that the longstanding alliance between Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah is on the verge of collapse.

The two sides continue to share deep political, electoral and sectarian interests, as well as a common interest in preventing a return of Shiite-Shiite conflict to southern Lebanon.

But the war has increasingly exposed differences in their calculations.

For Hezbollah, retaining its weapons and preserving freedom of movement for its fighters are existential issues. Amal, meanwhile, bears part of the political and social cost of the conflict without being the force that makes the military decisions.

In August, Amal handed over a military center in Mahruna to the Lebanese army, a move that carried political significance at a time of growing debate over the state's exclusive control of weapons and the expansion of state institutions in the south.

The move also takes on significance in light of recent comments by a source close to Berri's Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc. The source told Erem News that Berri was frustrated by what he saw as Hezbollah's failure to coordinate all of its moves with him.

Berri has also repeatedly stressed that southerners do not want war and supported a greater role for the Lebanese army.

According to the source, what angers Berri most is seeing a large part of the Shiite community pushed back into what he called a “cycle of deprivation” after the war forced thousands of families to lose their homes, businesses and livelihoods.

Large parts of southern Lebanon remain unable to return to normal life, the source said.

The source described growing “pessimism and anger at the highest levels” alongside signs that discontent was spreading to the grassroots, with the Arab Salim incident providing a visible example.

A social fault line emerges

Political researcher Mazen Bilal said the significance of incidents such as the one in Arab Salim lies less in the possibility that they will quickly develop into an organized confrontation between Amal and Hezbollah than in what they reveal about changing attitudes within the communities where both groups operate.

“The war has moved the debate over Hezbollah's weapons from the political sphere into people's daily lives,” Bilal told Erem News.

When residents believe that the presence of a fighter or a weapons depot near their homes could expose them to attack, he said, the issue becomes directly connected to the safety of their families and property rather than simply to their political position on Hezbollah's armed struggle.

Bilal said Amal's supporters have greater room to express such concerns because the movement is more closely connected to the state, its institutions and local social and political networks.

Hezbollah's support base, by contrast, is characterized by a higher degree of organizational and ideological discipline, he said.

Repeated incidents of this kind could therefore place Amal's leadership under growing pressure from its own grassroots, particularly if residents begin to feel that they are paying the price for military decisions in which they have no say.