Ground Troops, Airstrikes, and Displacement: No Guarantee of Safety in Lebanon With Relentless Israeli AssaultsAs Lebanon’s strained shelter system struggles to cope, Israel is focused on “collective punishment” and pitting the Lebanese government against Hezbollah.
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BEIRUT, LEBANON—For several nights, Walaa Raya had barely slept. The 32-year-old lay awake in her home in the village of Tamnin Al-Tahta in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, listening to the roar of warplanes and refreshing the news updates on her phone, waiting for the warning that might force her family to flee. Israel had dramatically escalated its war on Lebanon over the past week, and she feared that if she dozed off, she might miss a displacement order. Shortly after midnight on Friday, the sounds overhead grew louder. Fighter jets and drones circled the sky, and soon Raya began hearing helicopters. Then came a strange popping noise that sounded like fireworks. Confusion quickly spread through the village’s WhatsApp groups. Some messages claimed the helicopters belonged to the Lebanese Army and were evacuating wounded soldiers. Others warned that Israeli troops were attempting to invade the area. Panic set in. Flares lit up the sky as the Lebanese Army responded to what it had identified as an Israeli military incursion. Moments later, the sound of fierce clashes broke through the night — bursts of gunfire followed by a wave of airstrikes. At around 2 a.m., the sky finally fell silent. In the hours that followed, details of what transpired began to emerge. Israeli forces had launched an operation on the nearby town of Nabi Chit with helicopters and ground troops that it claimed was to retrieve the remains of Israeli soldier Ron Arad, who disappeared in Lebanon four decades ago. Lebanese Army commander Rodolphe Haykal said in a statement that the Israeli commando unit involved in the operation disguised themselves in uniforms that resemble the Lebanese Army’s and moved through the area using ambulances marked with the insignia of Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Organization. Hezbollah said in a statement its fighters “observed the infiltration of four Israeli enemy army helicopters from the Syrian direction.” Hezbollah fighters alongside local residents fought back against the Israeli incursion, engaging in a fierce gunbattle. Israeli troops were eventually forced to withdraw as warplanes and helicopter gunships fired 40 strikes on the area. At least 41 people were killed, including at least three Lebanese army soldiers and one member of the general security directorate, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. The Israeli military reported no casualties. Footage from a mass funeral the following day showed crowds weeping around dozens of coffins and raising their fists in defiance. Since the attack, Raya said residents of Tamnin Al-Tahta have begun leaving, fearing their village could be next. “I lived through 2006 and I lived through the war in 2024, but the conditions today are harder than everything that happened in the past 25 years,” Raya told Drop Site News. She said she had purchased a plane ticket to Istanbul, where Lebanese citizens can stay for one month on a visa. The raid on Nabi Chit was one of the deadliest attacks on Lebanon by the Israeli military since March 2, when it began heavily bombarding southern and eastern Lebanon, and the capital Beirut, in response to Hezbollah firing a barrage of rockets into Israel. The group said the strike was meant to avenge the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and respond to Israel’s continued attacks and occupation of territory in southern Lebanon. Since the escalation began last week, Israeli attacks have killed at least 486 people in Lebanon—including 83 children—and wounded more than 1,313 others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. “On average, more than 10 children have been killed every day across Lebanon over the past week, with approximately 36 children injured each day,” UNICEF said in a statement. Sweeping displacement orders issued by the Israeli military have forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. After ordering everyone south of the Litani River to flee north on March 4, the Israeli military issued a displacement order for all of Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiye—home to approximately 700,000 people—causing panic and traffic jams across the capital. Evacuation orders have also been issued for parts of the Bekaa Valley. More than 517,000 people have been officially registered as displaced, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Social Affairs, with many now taking refuge in schools and sports arenas that have been converted into shelters. The International Rescue Committee and UNICEF estimate the total number of displaced since last week at over 700,000. “This time, it’s more about the orders instead of the bombing,” said Mohanad Haj Ali, deputy director for research at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. “They’re more focused on the collective punishment of the Shia populace and putting pressure on the Lebanese government.” The renewed fighting follows a fragile ceasefire reached after 66 days of intense combat in late 2024 between Israel and Hezbollah. Under the agreement, Israel would halt its attacks if Hezbollah ceased military operations south of the Litani River. According to the United Nations, however, Israel has violated the agreement more than 15,000 times, including at least 1,500 incursions into Lebanese territory, and killed over 340 people. Hezbollah’s escalation last week increased pressure on the Lebanese government to confront the group directly. Following the rocket attacks, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam declared the group’s military operations “illegal” and imposed a ban on its security and military activities. Hezbollah has largely ignored the government’s orders and continued resistance attacks, conducting drone strikes and firing anti-tank missiles. On Friday, Hezbollah issued its own displacement order, posting a message on its Telegram channel in Hebrew warning residents in northern Israel to evacuate towns within 5 kilometers of the border. “Your military’s aggression against Lebanese sovereignty and safe citizens, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the expulsion campaign it is carrying out will not go unchallenged,” Hezbollah said. Members of Lebanon’s Change parliamentary bloc and several independent lawmakers have sharply criticized Haykal, the Lebanese Army commander, accusing the military of dragging its feet on implementing directives to disarm the group. Haykal addressed the situation during a meeting at army headquarters in Yarze on Saturday. “The army is exerting its utmost efforts to protect internal stability and national unity,” he said, and “stands at equal distance from all Lebanese and deals with them from its comprehensive national role.” Haj Ali said that Israel’s objective is to “increase public pressure and corner the Lebanese government to take action on Hezbollah.” He added, “[Haykal’s] statement is trying to preserve internal peace, which is not what the Israelis want,” said Haj Ali. “They want a civil war.” On Sunday, Israel’s military chief of staff Eyal Zamir said the war in Lebanon “will take a long time,” describing Hezbollah as “an extremist arm of the Iranian octopus.” Meanwhile, Lebanon’s strained shelter system is struggling to cope with the surge in displaced families. In Bir Hassan, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs that has endured repeated bombing since the escalation began, a technical college has been converted into a makeshift shelter. Inside the gates, displaced residents sit around tables in the sun, trying to warm themselves after another cold night. Children play beneath a canopy tent while newly arrived families wait to register. “Some buildings are at capacity but there is a waiting list,” a member of the Lebanese Civil Defense helping run the shelter told Drop Site. “When someone finds shelter elsewhere—an apartment to rent or space with family—we take in new people.” In the hallways, families have erected makeshift partitions from cardboard and hung blankets for privacy. There are no showers, only overcrowded bathrooms. Norma Zayneddine fled to the shelter with her husband and seven children from the neighborhood of Laylaki in the southern suburb of Dahiye on the first night of the escalation. “We left with nothing, just the clothes on our back,” she said. “We can’t sleep. We have no privacy. This is not a life, to be honest with you. We don’t know where we’re going.” Another displaced resident, Samah Al-Ghaddaf, evacuated with her husband and three children from Kafa’aat, another neighborhood in Dahiye. The shelter does not feel safe, she said. Since the escalation began, the Israeli military had issued warnings for Bir Hassan. The previous day, the Israeli military announced it would strike the nearby neighborhood of Jnah. Al-Ghaddaf and her family drove to the seaside district of Raouche and slept in their car before returning to the shelter the following morning. Even areas outside Israel’s declared evacuation zones are no guarantee of safety. Early Sunday morning, an Israeli airstrike struck the Ramada Hotel in Raouche, in the center of Beirut, killing four and sending shockwaves through the city. The Israeli military claimed the strike targeted commanders from Iran’s elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Across Lebanon, the relentless airstrikes have continued. On Saturday evening, an Israeli drone strike leveled a home in the Al-Athar neighborhood of Sour, killing eight members of a single family as they prepared the Ramadan iftar meal. The area had been considered safe and had not been targeted before. Among the victims were a Lebanese man who held Swedish citizenship, his wife, and their two children. Also killed were the wife of the man’s nephew—who was pregnant—her five-year-old daughter, and two elderly relatives. “What was the goal of this massacre?” asked Mohammad Saleh, a relative. “My uncle was European, he had a Swedish passport. My sister-in-law’s aunts were old people. The rest were children.” Saleh said his brother Hassan ran to the scene after hearing the strike and began digging through the rubble while calling out for his daughter. He eventually found her head severed from her body. “The drone appeared above the house 15 minutes before the strike and flew very low,” Saleh said. “They knew who they were targeting.” Khalil Al-Zain, a local leader in the city of Sour told Drop Site that many residents have no choice but to remain in their homes. “Many people are staying not because they’re stubborn but because they have nowhere else to go or no resources to leave.”
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Ground Troops, Airstrikes, and Displacement: No Guarantee of Safety in Lebanon With Relentless Israeli Assaults
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