Following the latest wave of Israeli attacks, Lebanon faces what the UN calls a "perfect storm." Could the first direct talks between Lebanon and Israel address the humanitarian crisis?
https://p.dw.com/p/5BzHRThe humanitarian situation in Lebanon is worsening, and a lack of funding limits international aidImage: Emilie Madi/REUTERSAdvertisementLebanon's national day of mourning on Thursday did not halt the efforts of local and international rescue teams searching for survivors in Beirut. The sound of machinery clearing rubble broke the silence of the deserted streets, while a thin veil of smoke still lingered over the hardest-hit parts of the city.
"What are we going to do with our lives? Where are we staying, and where are we going?" a local man in Beirut told Reuters news agency.
According to Lebanese health authorities, simultaneous Israeli strikes killed 303 people and injured 1,150 on Wednesday. Doctors Without Borders confirmed a mass influx of injured patients, including children, at Rafik Hariri Public Hospital in Beirut.
The latest strikes between Israel and Hezbollah underscore the conflicting views over whether Lebanon is included in Tuesday's ceasefire between Iran and the United States. Iran says the deal includes Lebanon while the US and Israel say it doesn't.
The strikes also mark a further escalation of the conflict in Lebanon, which intensified in early March when the country was drawn into the wider Middle East war after Hezbollah attacked Israel following the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Since then, Israeli airstrikes and a limited ground invasion killed 1,888 people, according to Lebanese officials. Around 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced.
Also the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia, whose military wing is classified as a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and many other countries, fired rockets at northern Israel and attacked Israeli troops in response to what it called "the enemy's violation of the ceasefire".
Lebanon's current crisis exacerbates an already fragile humanitarian situation. Lebanon has been stricken by a series of political and economic crises since 2019, as well as the devastating port blast in August 2020, and the war between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon in 2024.
"Thursday evening, additional evacuation orders triggered yet another wave of panic and displacement," Rabih Torbay, CEO of the aid organization Project Hope, told DW. He arrived in Beirut an hour before the attacks began on Wednesday. "Across the city and the country people are living in fear of further similar strikes, carefully weighing every movement," he said.
Ever more families are sleeping in their cars on the streets, in parking garages, and in public spaces across Beirut, Torbay observed. "Some of the 'luckier' ones have managed to set up tents along the seafront in downtown but it's still cold here (14–17°C), and many fled with nothing but the clothes on their backs," he added.
"The situation has turned into what we call a 'perfect storm'," Blerta Aliko, United Nations Development Programme Representative in Lebanon, warned in an interview with UN News on Thursday.
"It is a compounded crisis," she said. As she spoke, airstrikes over Beirut forced Aliko to relocate to a shelter.
For Lebanese civilians, who have been bearing the brunt of multiple rounds of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, life has become unbelievably hard. "I lost my home for what? For Iran? Hezbollah, wake up, this is your country, not Iran," a woman was overheard by the news agency dpa on Thursday.
"My parents are in Beirut," Lynn Zoviaghian, a Lebanese entrepreneur and philantropist, told DW. She had flown to Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh just before the latest escalation. "I hate that they face this horrible experience without me being by their side," she said, adding that "our resilience is not the solution."
Those who decided to stay in southern Lebanon despite Israeli relocation orders, are increasingly threatened to be cut off from humanitarian aid, food, and health care. Israeli military has been damaging key infrastructure, including all major bridges linking the north and south sides of the Litani River in the Tyre region.
"Tens of thousands of people continue to live there," Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, told DW. "Residents we spoke to in the southern city of Tyre told us that food supplies will only last for a week if the last main remaining bridge, Qasmieh Bridge, were to be completely destroyed," he said.
According to Israel, an area of southern Lebanon, a traditional Hezbollah stronghold comprising around 10% of the country, will be used as a "buffer zone." Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in March that 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 earlier this week even called for the Litani River to be Israel’s new border with Lebanon
For Israel, it remains key to see Hezbollah disarmed, as it was stipulated in the ceasefire from November 2024. Israel claims that as long as Hezbollah retains its arms, it poses a threat.
Hezbollah has been refusing to disarm altogether, citing the need to be able to defend Lebanon against ongoing Israeli attacks and Israel's military occupation of five military positions along the joint border.
Lebanese and Israeli governments have meanwhile confirmed direct talks in Washington next week. Such negotiations will mark a breakthrough as the countries don't have diplomatic relations and have been in an official state of war since 1948.
"The only solution to Lebanon's current situation is achieving a ceasefire with Israel," Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that direct negotiations with Lebanon will focus on the disarmament of Hezbollah and to achieve a "historic, sustainable peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon."
However, Hezbollah already made clear that they oppose direct negotiations and it's unclear whether Lebanon actually has the capacity to disarm them.
"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 in a statement.
"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," he added.
The Day with Phil Gayle : Israeli strikes on LebanonTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
