What is happening in Lebanon?

 

Between the night of September 30, 2024 and into the early morning of October 1, 2024, it was reported that Israeli forces began their first ground incursion into southern Lebanon since 2006. Learn more below about what exactly is happening in Lebanon and how the violence is affecting children.

This incursion comes after a night of violent air strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, as well as the explosion of pagers across the country on September 17, 2024.

The Lebanon crisis, explained

The situation in Lebanon is escalating drastically and changing rapidly. Children and families are being killed and injured, and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes to find safety.

September 23, 2024 was the deadliest day for Lebanon on record since 2006. Nearly 600 people were killed by airstrikes – including 50 children – and more than 1,800 people were injured.

Thousands of people, including Syrian refugees, are reported to be crossing the border to Syria to seek shelter, according to UN figures. However there have been reports of airstrikes in the Damascus, Rural Damascus and Homs areas, further threatening people currently on the move.

How are children in Lebanon impacted?

Children in Lebanon have felt the crushing anxiety of a looming war for months. Now their worst nightmare is swiftly becoming a reality:

• 104 children in Lebanon have been killed – over half of them in just the last week;
• A million people – or 20% of the total population – have been displaced from their homes, with 500,000 displaced in less than three days;
• 345,000 children near the southern border of Lebanon are at risk of being impacted by the increasing violence and are now desperately trying to flee with their families;
• All schools across the country have closed, impacting around 1.5 million children. Children are not only missing out on their right to learn, but they are also being stripped of a sense of security and normality during times of widespread uncertainty and anxiety.

Even before this most recent escalation, children in Lebanon were already dealing with a severe humanitarian crisis – driven by economic collapse, political instability and ongoing conflict – with more than half of the population depending on humanitarian assistance for basic needs.

Help support children in Lebanon. Donate today.

 

How is Save the Children responding?

Save the Children has been working in Lebanon since 1953, to support children, including access to education, healthcare and food.

Following the deadly explosion in the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020 – an explosion that killed at least 218 people, injured another 7,000 and displaced 300,000 people from their homes – Save the Children provided mental health support to children who had lost family members or were displaced.

Since October of 2023, we’ve supported 71,000 people – including 36,000 children – with:

• Recreational activities organized at shelters, to give children a safe place to play and interact with each other;
• Case management for children in need of individualised support and services;
• Mental health support to help children cope with the psychological toll of this crisis;
• Learning support, including distributing learning materials and running informal classes in shelters;
• Multi -purpose cash assistance to cover their essentials needs like food, medicines and warm clothing;
• Supplies including blankets, mattresses and pillows; food parcels; and kits with essential hygiene items like soap, toothbrushes, sanitary products, diapers for babies and more; and/li
• Access to clean water and washing facilities, through the distribution of water bottles, repairing damaged water points, and installing water treatment systems.

As the crisis goes on, we stand ready to scale up our response to the escalating situation. 

The outcomes of this escalation in violence extend beyond the immediate crisis in Lebanon. With the ongoing war in Gaza, violence escalating in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and tensions rising in other countries across the region, children’s lives and rights are hanging in the balance.