With a Palestinian keffiyeh around his neck, a cap to protect himself from the sweltering sun and a prayer mat under his arm, Akram Balkis said he "weeps" at the news from Gaza, which he follows relentlessly. On Friday, November 10, he attended the weekly prayer in solidarity with the residents of the Palestinian enclave by the Sunni religious institutions of Sidon. In the stadium, several thousand worshippers gathered: Lebanese and Palestinian, women and men, and children too. Banners in support of "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood," the bloody attack launched by Hamas against Israel on October 7, which left 1,200 dead according to a revised death toll by the Israeli authorities, were hung on the stadium gates.

"It's an act of resistance against the Israeli occupation," said Akram Balkis, a supporter of the Islamist movement. "I've come to pray that Hamas will be victorious and that the civilians of Gaza will be protected." More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli bombardments, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The supporter was hesitant to comment on the November 3 speech, the first since October 7, of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, who had announced neither all-out war nor de-escalation, assuring that his movement was already taking part in the battle. "Nothing is irreversible, everything can evolve over the days toward open warfare," he said.

In the days leading up to Hassan Nasrallah's speech, Hamas leaders such as Moussa Abu Marzouk, who lives in exile in Qatar, had called on Hezbollah to do "more" than these strikes. Since Hassan Nasrallah spoke out, Hamas has been restrained in its comments.

On the border, clashes between Hezbollah fighters and the Israeli army are a daily occurrence. The Lebanese politico-military movement, an ally of Tehran, launched its first strike on October 8. The sound of war has driven tens of thousands of civilians away from southern Lebanon.

On Friday, in his preaching to the crowd, which included Islamist sympathizers as well as secular MP and their supporters, Mufti of Sidon Salim Soussan accused Israel of "wanting to annihilate the residents of Gaza" and called for Palestinian "national unity": "May God give victory to the resistance!" Volunteers collected money to finance humanitarian aid for Gaza, under the auspices of Dar El-Fatwa, the Sunni institution in Lebanon. At the entrance to the stadium, young people sold Palestinian flags, keffiyehs and T-shirts bearing the effigy of the Al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

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