The sky over southern Lebanon no longer carries the promise of rain. It carries the low mechanical hum of drones and the crack of air strikes that arrive without warning. In villages such as al-Ain and Aitou, families wake to rubble where bedrooms once stood. Recent Israeli strikes in eastern Lebanon killed at least 10 people, deepening fears that the ceasefire is collapsing.

According to the World Health Organisation, more than 4,000 people in Lebanon have been killed and 17,000 injured since the escalation in October 2023, with trauma services now overwhelmed by what it calls ‘soaring needs’ for rehabilitation and care. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that more than 600,000 people – roughly one in ten Lebanese – have been displaced during the fighting. Even after the November 2024 ceasefire, some 80,000 remain unable to return home.

This is not a frozen conflict. It is a slow-burning emergency unfolding beneath diplomatic language. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and independent experts have warned that Israeli strikes have continued ‘almost daily’ despite the ceasefire, with at least 108 civilians reportedly killed after the truce took effect. Amnesty International has documented air strikes in late 2024 that killed at least 49 civilians in four separate incidents, raising concerns of war crimes and failures to respect the principles of distinction and proportionality under international humanitarian law.

Lebanon’s tragedy is not occurring in a vacuum. It is a country already hollowed out by economic collapse. Lebanon’s economic collapse ranks among the world’s worst since the 19th century, with GDP shrinking nearly 40 per cent since 2019. UNDP estimates that more than 80 per cent of the population now lives in multidimensional poverty following the financial meltdown that began in 2019. The Lebanese pound has lost over 95 per cent of its value. Public services have withered. Electricity is rationed to hours a day.

READ: Death toll from Israeli strike on eastern Lebanon rises to 10, over 30 injured

Three-quarters of the skilled workforce is estimated to have emigrated, draining hospitals, universities and businesses of talent precisely when reconstruction demands it most. Into this fragility has come renewed war.

Israel regards Hezbollah as an existential threat on its northern border, pointing to an arsenal of rockets and precision-guided........

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