‘We Miss Home’: Displaced Lebanese Face Cold Streets and an Uncertain Future
Key Takeaways
- Israeli evacuation calls forced about 830,000 southern Lebanon residents to flee.
- The exodus accounts for roughly 14 percent of Lebanon’s population.
- Displaced families in Beirut face cold streets and uncertain futures.
Displacement scale
Israeli calls for the evacuation of huge swaths of southern Lebanon have led 830,000 people, about 14 percent of Lebanon’s population, to flee.
“War in theMiddle East Advertisement Supported by Israeli calls for the evacuation of huge swaths of southern Lebanon have led 830,000 people, about 14 percent of Lebanon’s population, to flee”
Displaced resident profile
ByAbdi Latif Dahir Reporting from Beirut, Lebanon
Sitting on a weathered bench overlooking the Mediterranean on a recent evening in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, Fidaa Malhas vented her frustration at being uprooted.
Ms. Malhas, 38, usually lives in Sidiqeen, a town in southern Lebanon, where she works in a supermarket.
Like many across the country, she was displaced by Israeli airstrikes.
With no shelter in Beirut, she has been sleeping outdoors by the beach.
Escalating evacuations and context
“We love our land,” Ms. Malhas said.
“War in theMiddle East Advertisement Supported by Israeli calls for the evacuation of huge swaths of southern Lebanon have led 830,000 people, about 14 percent of Lebanon’s population, to flee”
“But we are never allowed to live on it in peace.”
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese are wondering when they might return home and are dreading reports of a possible Israeliground invasioninto southern Lebanon.
Each update sharpens their unease.
Last week, the Israeli militaryissued evacuation warnings fort all residents south of the Litani River, an area making up about eight percent of Lebanon’s territory and home to hundreds of thousands.
These orders, paired withsustained Israeli strikes, came after Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group in Lebanon, launched rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran.
Israel also called forthe evacuation of Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as the Dahiya, where Hezbollah holds sway, and parts of the eastern Bekaa Valley.
