How south Lebanon is suffering from Israel-Hezbollah conflict

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Houses reduced to rubble, a child desperately screaming for his mother and people frantically looking for loved ones: these images, widely shared on social media last week, might have easily been mistaken for scenes from Gaza. But they came from south Lebanon, in the border town of Aytaroun.

Lebanon’s southern border has become a battleground between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Hezbollah’s stated objective is to divert Israel from its invasion of the Gaza Strip following Hamas’s unprecedented attack on October 7.

The border conflict, which has killed more than 120 people, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also 17 civilians, has so far been limited to border communities.

Israel said six of its soldiers and four civilians have been killed in the area.

But the violence has recently escalated, with Israel intensifying its attacks. Air strikes on border villages are displacing more and more people, while locals say Israel’s use of white phosphorus has devastated farmland.

The conflict has come as Lebanon experiences one of the worst economic crises in modern history. South Lebanon, which has long suffered from a lack of investment, is under further strain.

The initial challenge is to assess the extent of the damage amid the fighting.

“We don’t know the extent of destruction because it can drastically increase from one day to another,” Hector Hajjar, Lebanon’s caretaker Minister of Social Affairs, told media.

The government’s current focus is to provide immediate humanitarian aid to the region, including food, hygiene and basic needs, he said.

The cash-strapped government also aims to provide financial relief to the UN’s estimated 50,000 people who have been displaced from the south, but will need to rely on donations from the UN and the EU.