Lebanon facing ‘catastrophic’ situation as 600,000 displaced: UN
Updated 09 October 2024
AFP
UNITED NATIONS: United Nations officials warned Wednesday that Lebanon was staring down a “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis as the number of internally displaced people hit 600,000 and Israel presses its offensive against Hezbollah militants.
Hezbollah said its fighters were locked in clashes with Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, using rocket-propelled weapons to repel Israeli attempts to breach the border.
“Lebanon finds itself facing a conflict and a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions,” Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, told a briefing.
She expressed “hope that Israel too will now be ready to add its support to the many calls and appeals that are out there” for de-escalation.
But as fighting raged, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down, warning Lebanon could face “a long war... like we see in Gaza.”
Israel has intensified air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon since September 23, leaving more than 1,190 people dead and forcing more than a million to flee, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
The UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Lebanon Imran Riza said that Lebanon was facing “one of the deadliest periods” in its recent history, reporting that 600,000 people are internally displaced — over 350,000 of whom are children.
“Even wars have rules,” he said.
Israel has refused to rule out strikes on Beirut’s civilian airport and its access roads, even as thousands of people continue to flee the country by air and road every day.
“We are not targeting civilians. But at the same time, if we will find Hezbollah activities or intention to launch rockets into Israel, we will do what any other country would do about it,” said Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon.
Israel’s ground forces crossed into Lebanon on September 30 in response to Hezbollah rocket and artillery attacks over the past year that have forced tens of thousands of Israelis out of their homes in border areas.
Israeli defense minister warns an attack on Iran would be ‘lethal’ and ‘surprising’
Updated 10 October 2024
AP
JERUSALEM: Israel’s defense minister warned on Wednesday that his country’s retaliation for a recent Iranian missile attack will be “lethal” and “surprising,” while the Israeli military pushed ahead with a large-scale operation in northern Gaza and a ground offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah militants.
On the diplomatic front, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden held their first call in seven weeks, with a White House press secretary saying the call included discussions on Israel’s deliberations over how it will respond to Iran’s attack.
“It was direct, it was productive,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said of the 30-minute call.
The Israeli operation in northern Gaza left dozens of people dead and threatened to shut down three hospitals over a year into the war with Hamas, Palestinian officials and residents said.
The continuing cycle of destruction and death in Gaza, unleashed by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, comes as Israel expands a weeklong ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon and considers a major retaliatory strike on Iran following Iran’s Oct. 1 missile barrage.
“Our strike will be lethal, precise and above all, surprising. They won’t understand what happened and how. They will see the results,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a speech to troops. “Whoever strikes us will be harmed and pay a price.”
Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel on Oct. 1 which the United States helped fend off. Biden has said he would not support a retaliatory strike on sites related to Tehran’s nuclear program.
On Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed a rocket attack that killed two people in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. The town’s acting mayor, Ofir Yehezkeli, said the two killed were a couple walking their dogs.
Dozens killed in Gaza and survivors fear displacement
In northern Gaza, there was heavy fighting in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, where Israeli forces have carried out several major operations over the course of the war and then returned as militants regroup. The entire north, including Gaza City, has suffered heavy destruction and has been largely isolated by Israeli forces since late last year.
In Gaza, Jabaliya residents said thousands of people have been trapped in their homes since the operation began Sunday, as Israeli jets and drones buzz overhead and troops battle militants in the streets.
“It’s like hell. We can’t get out,” said Mohamed Awda, who lives with his parents and six siblings. He said there were three bodies in the street outside his home that could not be retrieved because of the fighting.
“The quadcopters are everywhere, and they fire at anyone. You can’t even open the window,” he told The Associated Press by phone, speaking over the sound of explosions.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said it recovered 40 bodies from Jabaliya from Sunday until Tuesday, and another 14 from communities farther north. There are likely more bodies under rubble and in areas that can’t be accessed, it said.
Jabaliya residents fear Israel aims to depopulate the north and turn it into a closed military zone or a Jewish settlement. Israel has blocked all roads except for the main highway leading south from Jabaliya, according to residents.
“We are concerned about the displacement to the south,” Ahmed Qamar, who lives in Jabaliya with his wife, children and parents, said in a text message. “People here say clearly that they will die here in northern Gaza and won’t go to southern Gaza.” Hospitals are under threat
Fadel Naeem, the director of Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City, said it had received dozens of wounded people and bodies from the north. “We declared a state of emergency, suspended scheduled surgeries, and discharged patients whose conditions are stable,” he told AP in a text message.
Israel’s offensive has gutted Gaza’s health sector, forcing most hospitals to shut down and leaving the rest only partially functioning.
Naeem said three hospitals farther north — Kamal Adwan, Awda and the Indonesian Hospital — have become almost inaccessible because of the fighting. The Gaza Health Ministry says the Israeli army has ordered all three to evacuate staff and patients. Meanwhile, no humanitarian aid has entered the north since Oct. 1, according to UN data.
Israel’s authority coordinating humanitarian affairs in Palestinian territories said Israel “has not halted the entry or coordination of humanitarian aid entering from its territory into the northern Gaza Strip.”
Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it fights in residential areas.
Israel ordered the wholesale evacuation of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, in the opening weeks of the war, but hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have remained there. Israel reiterated those instructions over the weekend, telling people to flee south to a humanitarian zone where hundreds of thousands are already crammed into squalid tent camps.
The war began just over a year ago, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. They still hold around 100 hostages, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters. It has said women and children make up over half of the dead. The offensive has also caused staggering destruction across the territory and displaced around 90 percent of the population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting until “total victory” over Hamas and the return of all hostages. Israel warns Lebanon it could end up like Gaza
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said Lebanon would meet the same fate as Gaza if its people did not rise up against Hezbollah.
Video verified by The Associated Press shows what appears to be a group of Israeli soldiers raising an Israeli flag in a village in southern Lebanon.
In the video, which appears to have been filmed in Maroun A-Ras, three soldiers are seen hoisting up a flag atop a pile of debris. A soldier off camera speaks in Hebrew and refers to the nearby Israeli village of Avivim. The date it was filmed wasn’t immediately known.
The video follows other similar acts that took place throughout Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.
An Israeli strike killed four people and wounded another 10 at a hotel sheltering displaced people in the southern Lebanese town of Wardaniyeh on Wednesday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
An Associated Press reporter in a nearby town heard two sonic booms from Israeli jets before the strike. Plumes of smoke rose from the building after the explosion.
In recent weeks Israel has waged a heavy air campaign across large parts of Lebanon, targeting what it says are Hezbollah rocket launchers and other militant sites. A series of strikes had killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that Hezbollah has fired more than 12,000 rockets, missiles and drones at Israel in the past year.
Israel carries out airstrikes on sites in Syria, state TV says
Updated 10 October 2024
Reuters
CAIRO: Israel carried out airstrikes targeting an industrial site in the Syrian city of Homs and a military site in the countryside near the city of Hama leaving only “some material damage,” Syrian state TV said early on Thursday.
Israel targeted a car manufacturing plant at the industrial site in Homs, which led to a fire breaking out there and firefighting teams are currently working to extinguish it, Syrian TV said, citing the director of the industrial site, Amer Khalil.
Explosions were heard in the Syrian city of Daraa and they are being investigated, state media also reported.
Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years, but has ramped up its raids since last year’s Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israeli territory.
Israeli military says it intercepted drone that approached Israel over Red Sea
Updated 09 October 2024
Reuters
CAIRO: The Israeli military said on Wednesday it intercepted a drone that approached Israel over the Red Sea but did not cross into Israeli territory, minutes after the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it targeted Israel’s Eilat with drones.
Lebanon arrests two Syrians on suspicion of spying for Israel
Updated 09 October 2024
AFP
BEIRUT: The Lebanese army said Wednesday it had arrested two Syrians on suspicion of having been recruited to work for Israel, as its military bombs Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
Lebanese army intelligence arrested two Syrians “for photographing different places... and documenting the results of enemy air strikes,” an army statement on social network X said.
The arrests were “a result of surveillance and follow-up of Israeli spy networks and enemy agents,” it said in the statement.
The pair had also documented “search and rescue operations and the recovery of bodies” at Israeli strike sites and were “recruited through social media,” the statement said, adding that judicial authorities were investigating.
Israel has been pounding Lebanon for more than two weeks, saying it is targeting Hezbollah commanders and munitions, in raids that have killed more than 1,200 people since September 23, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Lebanon remains technically at war with Israel and forbids citizens from having any contact with Israel or traveling there.
Suspicions are running particularly high after Israel killed senior Hezbollah commanders in recent weeks, including the group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Lebanese security services have arrested dozens over the years on suspicions of collaborating with Israel, with some receiving jail terms of up to 25 years.
How Israel’s war on Hezbollah risks creating a lost generation in Lebanon
War and mass displacement have brought the nation’s education system, already crippled by economic crisis, to the brink of collapse
Schools across Lebanon have been repurposed to house families displaced by Israeli airstrikes, depriving children of an education
Updated 09 October 2024
Razia Desai
DUBAI: Thousands of children across Lebanon, many of whom were due to start the new school year, have seen their education abruptly disrupted by the sudden escalation in hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.
With schools closing, teachers fleeing, and students facing mounting trauma, Lebanon’s educational system is on the verge of collapse.
“This has added to existing challenges caused by the pandemic, political instability, economic downturns, including earlier teacher strikes, and continuous conflict,” Erin Wall, an education technical adviser at Save the Children Lebanon, told Arab News.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire along the Lebanese border since Oct. 8 last year. However, this suddenly escalated in September with an unprecedented attack on the militia’s communications network, followed by a wave of strikes on its leaders and weapons caches.
Lebanon was rocked last month when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies carried by Hezbollah members suddenly exploded simultaneously. The devices, reportedly booby-trapped by Israel, exploded in public areas, killing scores and injuring thousands, including children.
Following the pager incident, Lebanon’s Education Minister Abbas Halabi announced the closure of schools and higher education institutions, impacting some 1.5 million young people across the country.
In the days that followed, Israel escalated its airstrikes against Hezbollah targets, with the stated aim of pushing the militia away from the Israel-Lebanon border, making it safe for the 60,000 Israelis displaced from the north to return home.
Flames and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, on Oct. 6, 2024. Before the strike, the Israeli military told residents that they live near "facilities and interests" belonging to the militant Hezbollah group that they will strike soon. (AP)
Israeli strikes, which have now extended beyond southern Lebanon to the capital Beirut and other regions, have forced some 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes — an estimated 35 percent of them children.
School buildings in the north of the country have been repurposed to provide emergency shelter to families escaping the bombardment in the south and other areas that are considered Hezbollah strongholds.
The long-term effects of the violence and disruption are likely to run deep. Children like 14-year-old Ali Al-Akbar, who returned to school not for an education but to find a place of refuge, are missing out on much-needed stability.
“I miss my friends and teachers,” Al-Akbar told AFP news agency from a classroom-turned-shelter in Beirut’s southern suburbs, echoing the sentiment of thousands of displaced students across the country.
Displaced children sit in a classroom in Beirut, after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south with their families on Sept. 26, 2024. (AP)
War damage and the mass displacement of students and teachers have left education in Lebanon in a state of limbo.
“Damage to some school infrastructure and resources has diminished educational quality,” Mira, an elementary teacher from Beirut, told Arab News. “Displacement forces children to adapt to new curricula and environments, adding to their stress.”
Online learning, while utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic, has proven difficult to implement in the face of daily bombings and unreliable internet access.
Furthermore, the trauma of conflict, compounded by the loss of community and routine, makes it nearly impossible for children to concentrate on their studies.
“The psychological impact on students, who lose access to safe, child-friendly spaces and routine support services, contributes to stress and anxiety,” said Wall of Save the Children.
“This scenario exacerbates the risk of social isolation and disconnection, significantly affecting their overall well-being and development.”
The disruption to education could also have lasting consequences for Lebanon’s recovery. A World Bank report last year estimated the economy could lose $3 million in the long term due to educational disruptions.
Even more concerning is the impact on students who may never return to school or will forget what they have already learned.
Jennifer Moorehead, Lebanon country director at Save the Children, told AFP: “It will be generations before Lebanon will recover from this learning loss.”
"Over a million, 200k people on the road, so 20% of the population basically on the move. 420k of those are children. It's a very impressive and also very scary moment to be a kid." Jennifer Moorehead, Country Director, @SaveChildrenLEB on humanitarian situation in #Lebanonpic.twitter.com/AhgffanQQQ
— Save the Children Global Media (@Save_GlobalNews) October 3, 2024
The country’s fragile economy is unlikely to withstand such an extensive setback, with an entire generation of children at risk of being left behind.
Children displaced by the conflict are also at risk of long-term trauma.
Wall emphasized how the cognitive abilities of children are being affected, with many exhibiting signs of constant anxiety and fear. “This is detrimental to their ability to focus, which negatively affects their acquisition of foundational skills such as math or reading,” she said.
Meanwhile, at schools that have been turned into makeshift shelters, little space remains for the continuation of education. In these overcrowded conditions, the chances of returning to regular schooling are slim.
Displaced children play in a school which provides them temporary shelter in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 7, 2024 amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (Reuters)
“No mother wants her child to miss out on school, but this year I’d rather he stayed by my side as nowhere in Lebanon is safe anymore,” Batoul Arouni, a mother staying in a repurposed school in Beirut, told AFP.
Her sentiment is shared by many parents who fear for their children’s safety amid the violence.
In the face of these overwhelming challenges, international aid has begun to trickle in. The UN children’s fund, UNICEF, has been providing educational and psychosocial support to displaced children in shelters.
Regional countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan, have also pledged millions of dollars in relief.
Volunteers of the Russian Cultural Center entertain displaced children at a school in Beirut, Lebanon, on Oct. 3, 2024, after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south. (AP)
While the aid provided thus far has primarily focused on food, shelter, and medical care, these necessities offer a glimmer of hope for Lebanon’s children.
By stabilizing the humanitarian situation, aid organizations say they are creating an environment where children can eventually return to learning and begin to heal from the trauma.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Education has also partnered with private institutions to allow displaced children to attend nearby schools. However, the success of this initiative will depend heavily on whether schools can remain open in the face of continued violence.
INNUMBERS
• 400k Children displaced by the conflict in Lebanon, according to the UN.
• 40% Proportion of public schools serving as shelters, according to education officials.
• 127 Children killed since the onset of hostilities — more than 100 in the last two weeks.
The current crisis has exposed the deep vulnerabilities in Lebanon’s education system, which has been plagued by instability for years.
The pandemic, teacher strikes, and economic hardship had already pushed many schools to the brink of collapse. The conflict with Israel has only exacerbated these issues.
Displaced people get food in a school which provides them temporary shelter in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 7, 2024, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (REUTERS)
Lebanon’s public schools are set to reopen in early November after the Ministry of Education pushed back the start of the new term. But uncertainty looms over whether they will be able to function effectively.
Indeed, according to Lebanon’s Education Minister Halabi, around 600 schools, or 40 percent of public institutions, have been repurposed as shelters.
“The education plan we have put in place needs more time for implementation,” Halabi said in a statement, adding that public schools will reopen based on their location and capacity to host students.
The UN estimates that more than 400,000 children have been displaced by the conflict to date. With no formal schooling available in shelters, children and teachers will be enrolled in nearby schools, but it is unclear how many will be able to return.
A protester holds a sign during a demonstration in support of Lebanese people as intense Israeli attacks across Lebanon's east, south and on southern Beirut have killed hundreds of people and forced many to flee their homes, on Place de la Republique, in Paris, on September 29, 2024. (AFP)
However, the loss of education is not just a temporary inconvenience — it could have catastrophic long-term consequences for a country already mired in crisis.
Without immediate and sustained international support, an entire generation of Lebanese children risks being lost to conflict, trauma, and missed opportunities.
For many families, though, education is no longer a priority, as survival takes center stage.
