Lebanon observed a national day of mourning as local and international rescue teams continued searching for survivors in Beirut, where machinery cleared rubble and a thin veil of smoke lingered over the hardest-hit areas. “What are we going to do with our lives? Where are we staying, and where are we going?” a Beirut resident told Reuters.
Lebanese health authorities said simultaneous Israeli strikes killed 303 people and injured 1,150 on Wednesday. Doctors Without Borders reported a mass influx of injured patients, including children, at Rafik Hariri Public Hospital in Beirut.
The latest strikes highlight disputed interpretations of Tuesday’s Iran–US ceasefire: Iran says the deal includes Lebanon, while the US and Israel say it does not. The exchanges also mark an escalation of the wider Lebanon conflict, which intensified in early March when Hezbollah attacked Israel following the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Since then, Lebanese officials say Israeli airstrikes and a limited ground invasion have killed 1,888 people and displaced about 1.2 million Lebanese.
Hezbollah, backed by Iran and designated a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and others, has fired rockets at northern Israel and attacked Israeli troops, accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire.
Humanitarian crisis
Lebanon’s crisis compounds long-standing political and economic turmoil since 2019, the devastating August 2020 port blast, and the 2024 fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. “Thursday evening, additional evacuation orders triggered yet another wave of panic and displacement,” Rabih Torbay, CEO of Project Hope, told DW. He arrived in Beirut an hour before Wednesday’s attacks. “Across the city and the country people are living in fear of further similar strikes, carefully weighing every movement.”
Many families are sleeping in cars, parking garages and public spaces across Beirut. Some have pitched tents along the downtown seafront, but nights are cold (about 14–17°C) and many fled with only the clothes they were wearing. Blerta Aliko, UN Development Programme Representative in Lebanon, called the situation “a compounded crisis” and said airstrikes forced her to relocate to a shelter during an interview.
Civilians voiced anger and despair at bearing the brunt of repeated conflict. “I lost my home for what? For Iran? Hezbollah, wake up, this is your country, not Iran,” a woman was overheard saying. Lebanese entrepreneur and philanthropist Lynn Zovighian, who flew to Riyadh before the latest escalation, said she dreaded for her parents’ safety and warned that “our resilience is not the solution.”
“Food supply for a week”
Those who stayed in southern Lebanon despite Israeli relocation orders risk being cut off from aid, food and healthcare as Israeli forces damage key infrastructure, including major bridges over the Litani River in the Tyre region. Ramzi Kaiss, a Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, said residents in Tyre told investigators that food supplies would last only about a week if the last main bridge, Qasmieh Bridge, were destroyed.
Israel has said it intends to use part of southern Lebanon—a traditional Hezbollah stronghold comprising roughly 10% of the country—as a “buffer zone.” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said hundreds of thousands of displaced south Lebanon residents “will not return south of the Litani River until security is guaranteed for the residents of the north” of Israel. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich suggested the Litani River should become Israel’s new border with Lebanon.
For Israel, disarming Hezbollah remains key, as stipulated in a November 2024 ceasefire. Israel argues Hezbollah’s arms pose an ongoing threat. Hezbollah refuses to disarm, saying it needs to defend Lebanon against continued Israeli attacks and Israel’s occupation of five military positions along the border.
Diplomacy and a precarious future
Lebanese and Israeli governments confirmed direct talks in Washington next week—a rare development given the absence of diplomatic relations and a formal state of war since 1948. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said a ceasefire with Israel is the only solution to Lebanon’s situation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said talks would focus on disarming Hezbollah and achieving “a historic, sustainable peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon.”
Hezbollah opposes direct negotiations, and analysts say Lebanon likely lacks the capacity to forcibly disarm the group. “To be sure, the core dispute in Lebanon remains unresolved: Israel has sworn not to tolerate an armed Hezbollah on its northern border, while Hezbollah abhors the expanding Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory,” David Wood, senior Lebanon analyst at the International Crisis Group, said. “Even if the US can usher in a desperately needed ceasefire, Lebanon will stay on a knife’s edge: indefinitely on the brink of tumbling into yet another round of ruinous conflict.”
Edited by: Andreas Illmer