In Israel and Lebanon, life goes on even as the region teeters on the edge of all-out war

In Beirut, shops are open and traffic is as snarled as ever. In Tel Aviv, cafes hum with patrons and umbrellas sprout across crowded beaches. Such scenes may seem surreal in a region teetering on the edge of all-out war — and beneath the surface there is plenty of fear and anxiety. But after 10 months of near-daily border skirmishes, strikes further afield and escalating threats, a sense of fatalism seems to have set in. The killings last week of two militant leaders in Beirut and Tehran — attributed to Israel — brought vows of revenge from Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Everyone expects that an all-out war would be far more devastating than any previous conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.