War in Lebanon
An Update
For almost a year, we’ve been asking if there will be a full-scale war in Lebanon. Today, it seems we have gotten much closer to one.
In the bloodiest day since the start of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel last October, Israel has launched massive airstrikes across Lebanon as it targets what it says are weapon and munition sites that the armed group has used to attack Israel. At the time of writing, at least 182 people are reported dead and 727 injured, including women and children. Tens of thousands of more people have fled their homes and villages, crowding highways and roads as they make their way north to Beirut and other places they hope will be safe. Already, more than 100,000 people had been displaced by nearly a year of fighting.
In Beirut, attacks have not occurred as of this afternoon, but fear and uncertainty still spread like wildfire this morning as residents received messages from Israel, warning them to evacuate before its military strikes residential locations where it claims Hezbollah is storing weapons and munitions. As the messages arrived, parents rushed to pick up their children from school just as classes for the new academic year got underway.
Our school, BBS, which is in a largely non-Christian part of Beirut, issued semi-evacuation orders. It also began preparing its campus to host people displaced by fighting, just as it did during the last full-scale war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006. Families we hosted then have reached out, asking if we can host them again 18 years later. Already, Lebanon’s ministry of education has instructed public schools in parts of the country currently under fire – or expected to come under fire – to open their doors for people who have fled, while classes in those areas have also been canceled for today and tomorrow.
For several years now, citizens of Lebanon have endured one crisis after the next, but this past week has been particularly challenging. A series of attacks have now left thousands injured, hundreds dead, and a troubled nation on the edge of total collapse. As fighting continues with Hezbollah launching projectiles into Israel, we wait to see what the coming hours will bring.
In this deep, frightening uncertainty, we continue to ask for your prayers and support. Yet all the while, we stand ready to respond. At our offices on the outskirts of Beirut, we have food boxes ready to distribute to people displaced by fighting. Meanwhile, our aid and development ministry, Middle East Revive and Thrive, has been providing humanitarian support to people affected by the conflict for nearly a year. In addition, we have set up a Lebanon Emergency Fund to meet additional needs as they arise. If you would like to contribute to this fund, you can do so by clicking here or on the box below. If you would like a guide on how you can pray for us during these times, please check out the prayer guide we prepared last year when the war in Gaza first started.
