️ The Israeli military has instructed civilians across a large area of southern Lebanon to immediately leave their homes and move north of the Litani River due to planned military action against Hezbollah.
️ The sweeping orders came as hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed group continued... to escalate. Hours after issuing the instruction, the military stated it had begun "a wave of strikes" in the south.
️ Tens of thousands of people in Lebanon have already been displaced since fighting erupted on Monday.
️ One man still living in southern Lebanon told the BBC he would not leave his home. "Let them say whatever they want—I'm not going to Beirut to be on the streets," said Mohamed, 25.
️ Another man said he and his disabled wife had already moved this week and were uncertain if they could find shelter further north.
️ In the capital, Beirut, displaced civilians have been sleeping in shelters, on roadsides, in parks, and in their cars.
️ Volunteers at food kitchens and shelters expressed concerns about being unable to keep up with rising demand.
️ Those displaced have fled from southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and the Dahieh suburbs of southern Beirut—the heartlands of Hezbollah and Lebanon's Shia Muslim community.
️ At one displacement camp on the outskirts of Beirut, hundreds of people prepared for Iftar—a meal eaten at sunset to break the Ramadan fast—on Tuesday evening.
️ Some were still wearing the pyjamas they had on when they fled their homes.
️ Everyone the BBC spoke to had been displaced multiple times before due to hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, a Shia militia and political party designated as a terrorist organization by the US, UK, and other countries.
️ The latest escalation followed Hezbollah launching rockets and drones at Israel in response to US and Israeli strikes that allegedly killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Israeli military responded with air strikes and deployed troops into southern Lebanon.
️ Hezbollah's rocket fire in the early hours of Monday morning was its first such action since a November 2024 ceasefire that formally ended 13 months of war. Israel had continued to carry out near-daily strikes on Lebanon, which it claimed were aimed at Hezbollah targets.
️ In Beirut, strikes this week have largely targeted the Dahieh area, but one early on Wednesday hit a hotel in an upscale suburb in the east of the city.
️ Witnesses reported one person was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
️ Locals expressed shock, describing the district as safe, with the hotel located in a Christian-majority area less than a mile from the presidential palace.
️ The Israeli military has not yet commented on the attack.
️ Among those displaced from their homes, views on the war are divided. "If they [Hezbollah] can't end Israel, I think they should stop—but hopefully we will defeat it," said Lamyaa at the displacement camp, criticizing the Lebanese military for pulling back from positions on the border with Israel.
️ Nearby, a mother and her two daughters discussed Hezbollah's actions and debated how weakened the group had been by the previous war with Israel.
️ At a shelter elsewhere in Beirut, mother-of-two Fatima, 32, said she was angry at Hezbollah for pulling Lebanon back into war.
️ Others focused only on wanting the war to end. "I want to go home. I hope to go back to my village. I hope there will never be war again," said 20-year-old Amal.
