Intensified Israeli attacks on Lebanon force chaotic exodus, but also nationwide solidarity

A fresh wave of displacement has engulfed the embattled Lebanese nation for the past two days, as Israel intensified and expanded its aerial strikes on the country, killing over 500 people and wounding thousands, while threatening to target regions that fall outside the dominance of its arch foe of Hezbollah, the military group with which it has been locked in a fierce exchange of fire for almost a year.

The sheer number of vehicles loaded with fleeing families have completely blocked roads that extend from the southern regions to cities up north, like Sidon, Beirut, all the way to Akkar, about 190 kilometres away from the southern city of Tyre. The hours-long traffic jam, the snaking queues at petrol stations of car drivers seeking to fill their tanks, as well as supermarkets crammed with people hoarding basic food items in anticipation of an all-out war, mirrors the state of chaos and panic gripping the nation.

Lebanon's south has been under constant attack from Israel since 8 October, after Hezbollah began firing at Israel's northern regions in support of Palestine and to pressure Tel Aviv to end its gruesome, genocidal war on Gaza. 

The cross border skirmishes have forced thousands of Israelis to flee northern regions, whom the Israeli government claims is aiming to bring back to their homes by escalating its strikes against Hezbollah in a bid to slow down its assaults.

On the Lebanese side, Israeli airstrikes drove more than 102,000 people to flee southern parts of the country since 8 October and killing journalists, medical personnel, and other civilians. This number of displaced, injured and dead spiked over the past couple of days alone as a reaction to the intensified Israeli attacks. 

The government said on Monday that dozens of schools across the country have opened their doors to internally-displaced people (IDPs), which quickly got packed with the ongoing influx from southern Lebanon, al-Bekaa and elsewhere. Soon after, unverified reports emerged on social media that some of these schools have already gotten filled to the rim with fleeing families, while others took to social media pleading for shelter or for help with transportation.

Citizens and civil society rushed to help, offering shelter to the displaced in a show of unity and solidarity.
 

A WhatsApp group bringing together property owners offering shelter with those looking for one was set up on Monday morning. By the afternoon, the application was refusing requests to join as the group quickly reached the maximum number of members allowed in.

Head of the Chouf Development Association, lawyer Daad Al-Laqis, told The New Arab on Monday that "the city of Barja opened its homes to the displaced, especially since it is the closest to Sidon."

Barja, which is predominantly Sunni, has also opened its four public schools to accommodate displaced people, she said. "We may continue tomorrow by opening places in private schools. We have provided our people with mattresses, blankets and food by distributing meals and water," noted Al-Laqis.

Since the start of the violence, sectarian and political fault lines running deep in the multi-faith Lebanese society have often flared, with many backing the Shia Hezbollah in its war on Israel in support of Palestinians, while others condemned the group for further straining the cash-strapped country. Even recently, there have been local reports of certain communities protesting or blocking those from Lebanon's south to shelter. 

However, and particularly since last week's pager and walkie-talkie attacks, such divisive voices and actions have been dwarfed by nationwide gestures of solidarity. 

By Tuesday, the Chouf association's deputy chairman Rowaida Daqduqi said it managed—along with the Beirut to set up 550 displacement locations in Al-Barja, hosting over 3,000 people, and served more than 500 meals, in addition to the beddings and water and other essential supplies.

In the early hours of Tuesday, the roads exiting southern Lebanon were still crammed with vehicles trying to flee, and people were appealing on social media for local security forces to help organise the traffic, as some families have been stranded since Monday on roads blocked by traffic, without food or water. 

The influx meant more volunteering efforts are underway to accommodate more people. Moreover, according to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, Hezbollah has also activated its evacuation plans and has sent volunteers to support these initiatives. 

Mayor of Baissour, Nadim Malaeb, told TNA that activists and social entities in the village, located some 80.5 kilometres north of Tyre, have arranged for 300 people to reside in the public secondary and intermediate schools, in about 17 rooms.

"A classroom accommodates two families. It is worth noting that 75 mattresses and 50 blankets were provided, and local relief agencies provided 45 mattresses," he explained.

"The number of empty houses for rent is small, and some families were placed without furniture in them, but there are 520 houses inhabited by 2,700 displaced Syrians, some of which are old and abandoned houses. People are still arriving, and we are registering them," he added.

On the actions of solidarity, Maryam Haidar, a secondary school teacher at the official Al-Malaab School in Tripoli, who is Sunni, said they opened two residential units, one in Tripoli and the other in Deir Ammar, for two families from the south and the suburbs. "I am an employee of the Lebanese state, which means I am concerned for every Lebanese person, regardless of their sect or affiliation," said Haidar by phone. 

"I received a family from the suburbs in my private home, and they are my family and brothers. I wish I had a hundred or a thousand homes to open to my brothers in the homeland," she said.

"In crises, sectarianism is abolished, because the Lebanese are my blood, flesh, dignity, and honour. We in Tripoli always open our homes in times of peace and war to honourable people from all parts of the country," she continued. "If it weren't for the people of the south, there would be no Lebanon."

This piece was published in collaboration with Egab.