In war-weary Lebanon, anger at Israel and Hezbollah takes hold

The shell of an unfinished council building, in the hills overlooking southern Beirut, was alive with activity.

Not from tradespeople, but with children playing football as their anxious parents watched on.

World Vision is supervising the site in Choueifat, commandeering the building from the local municipality and providing tarpaulins and mattresses for desperate people fleeing the violence elsewhere.

Among them is Fatmeh al Hawle, living in one of the temporary rooms with eight other people.

"This our way of living and our life," she told the ABC. "We had houses and we were living happy lives, now we've become like this.

"Let [the Israelis] stop their attacks on us — it's enough, it's enough, we want to live in peace and safety. "

Crews are scrambling to install running water in the building to help those seeking shelter.

It is but one example of the immense challenge facing Lebanon, as Israel's bombardment of the country continues into a third week.

The Lebanese Red Cross said on Monday that more than 900,000 people across Lebanon are now displaced, as a result of Israel's intense bombardment of the country's south and the capital, Beirut, against claimed Hezbollah targets.

Estimates put the country's total population at between 5 and 6 million. The death toll is now at more than 900, including more than 100 children.

The Iranian-backed militant group, which is considered a terrorist organisation under Australian law, weighed into the broader regional conflict — firing rockets and drones south towards Israel, in solidarity with the Islamic regime in Tehran.

It has fuelled a lot of anger in the community — accusations that Hezbollah has dragged Lebanon into conflict again, and that the country's government is too impotent to deal with the group.

"We want this brutal aggression to stop, we want to live in peace," Fatmeh said. "We have kids we want to raise, for them to live in peace.

"We want our kind and generous state to defend us, to protect us. Unfortunately, we don't have a state that's protecting us."

In southern Beirut, Lebanon's largest sporting stadium is not hosting football teams and their enthusiastic fans.

Camille Chamoun Stadium has a capacity of more than 45,000 people. But at the moment, more than 800 people are seeking shelter under the stands. 

"Unfortunately, this is a crisis that involves all of Lebanon," Beirut's Mayor Ibrahim Zaidan told the ABC.

"We always are the first destination for all the people who are moving away from their villages, from the south.

"So what we're doing is trying to do, as best as we can, to accommodate them in the proper places."

Yasmin was among those staying at the stadium, with her husband and children.

"We were bathing the children when [Israel] immediately issued a warning to evacuate the entire southern suburbs of Beirut," she told the ABC. "So we quickly put our things in a van and left right away.

"Honestly, if it were only me, I wouldn't have left, but because of the children, they get frightened and panic."

IDF orders widespread evacuations

The scale of this crisis is greater than what battered and bruised Lebanon has faced before. In previous conflicts, entire suburbs such as Dahiyeh have not been subject to ongoing evacuation or displacement orders from the Israeli military.

Lebanon's Education Minister, Rima Karame, was touring a school just outside the so-called "red zone" on Tuesday.

"It is a lot of pressure, and we are short on resources, especially if the war is extended and the displacement doesn't end soon," she told the ABC.

"That's why we're putting a lot of appeals for the international community for any kind of support, it will make a lot of difference for us."

That process is made all the more difficult by the situation occurring elsewhere in the region — Lebanon's traditional donors in the Gulf, for example, coming under attack from Iran itself.

"This crisis is touching a much larger circle than was the case before," she said. "Some of them have responded to us, but they are not responding at this point at the same level because they have their own situation to manage."

Lebanon's social safety net is basically non-existent, as a result of the country's failed economy and internal division after years of sectarian tensions.

It means charities are having to fill the void.

"We cannot tell no for anyone," Father Hanni Tawk told the ABC.

He is the founder of Mariam's Kitchen, which has operated since 2020, following the devastating Beirut port explosion — one of the darkest chapters in the country's history — and helps point to the deep challenges Lebanon still faces.

"Normally, in our kitchen … we provide 3,000 hot meals every day," Father Tawk said. "But with this war … we are obliged to go with 5,000 hot meals every day. And it's not easy."

Despite the growing demand, Father Tawk remained remarkably cheerful as he stirred a large pot of burghul bi dfeen — a traditional Lebanese dish.

"It's very famous in our country," he said. "It's like from burghul and chickpeas, and also chicken and many, many spices."

The Israeli military has issued evacuation orders for large parts of southern Lebanon — beyond the Litani River, traditionally seen as the boundary of Hezbollah territory.

The evacuation area now extends further north, to the Zahrani River.

Hundreds of thousands of people, some having only recently returned to their homes in the area after previous conflicts, are now on the move again.

This map shows the areas the IDF has ordered people to evacuate from. It also shows how IDF airstrikes do not always take place inside those zones.

Despite a ceasefire having technically been in place between Israel and Hezbollah since November 2024, Israel has been regularly attacking the south.

It has claimed it is hitting Hezbollah infrastructure, such as tunnel networks and weapons stockpiles.

Since the order was made by Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, a large troop build-up has begun along the border.

When the ABC travelled to the area last week, tanks and armoured personnel carriers were stationed throughout the area.

There was a regular rumble of artillery fire and air strikes, as well as the sound of gunfire in some of the small Lebanese villages and towns just a few kilometres from the border.

The ABC was told it was a closed military area and that we needed to leave.

Regularly, emergency warnings were issued while we were there, as Israel's air defence systems detected rockets and drones being launched from the north.

Human Rights Watch accused the IDF of using deadly and incendiary white phosphorous in one attack on the village of Yohmor on March 3, saying it had verified photos from the site showing it being fired near a residential area.

The organisation said that was illegal under international law, due to its risk to civilians.

"The IDF is currently unaware and cannot confirm use of shells that contain white phosphorous in Lebanon as claimed," a spokesperson said in response.

"There may be visual similarities between smoke shells containing white phosphorous and smoke shells that do not, and caution is advised before making factual determinations regarding use of smoke shells with white phosphorous in individual cases based on visuals alone."

'I am tired from running away'

Despite the threats, not everyone is leaving southern Lebanon.

Gaby Jammal, a writer based in Sidon, told the ABC he could not imagine leaving his home and heading elsewhere — either northern parts of Lebanon, or overseas.

"I am tired from running away from all these things," he said. "Now I feel that, more than any other time, I feel I belong here — so I don't have any intention really to leave Lebanon to any other destination now.

"It's my small world. If I leave my place, my apartment where I live now, I will really feel defeated, and then I will lose the balance."

Gaby has started volunteering for a non-government organisation to help his community in its time of need.

Another local, Dr Nasser Farran was also insistent on staying put.

"I am a surgeon, I've never left during all the wars — in 1993, 1996, 2006, 2024," he said. "It's my people. If I leave, who will treat injured people?

"We have many injured, they cannot be transferred to Sidon or Beirut. They cannot make it."

Rita and Wafa Darwiche said they had tried to leave the city of Tyre, but had struggled to find shelter elsewhere and did not have the money to travel further.

Israeli strikes on the Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution, Al-Qard Al-Hasan had hit nearby.

"We are living in terror — we sleep for five minutes, and every five minutes there is a warning, every five minutes there is a strike, and every five minutes you don't know what your fate will be," Rita told the ABC.

For those who have managed to leave the south and sought refuge in places like Beirut, charities such as Offre Joie are opening the doors to emergency accommodation.

The organisation's Cynthia Mehdi said people coming to them for help seemed calmer this time around — simply because they had recent experience of fleeing their homes.

"I'm talking about September 2024, it was hectic," she told the ABC. "They were also angrier, they were frustrated, they didn't know how to communicate. This time, it's a little bit calmer, not chaotic like last time."

Offre Joie had three blocks of accommodation available, along with a pharmacy and medical clinic for people needing support.

"There are a lot of people with good hearts who are willing to help," Cynthia said. "We are expecting the worst, and we are ready for it; we are trying to be ready for it."

While those preparations were underway, there was also a resignation that support from the government would be lacking.