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The people of Lebanon dared to let hope flicker for the first time in several weeks. As a sense of normalcy seemed within reach, families busied themselves with cleaning their homes, anticipating reunions with loved ones. Some began packing their belongings, while others had already embarked on journeys back to the city, eager to resume the lives they had abandoned.
“At the beginning of the day, people felt happy because of the ceasefire between Iran and the United States,” recounted Abbas Ayoub from southern Beirut to SBS News, capturing the brief glimmer of optimism that swept through communities.
However, their hopes were cruelly dashed.
By the next morning, the sky over Lebanon was filled with a barrage of bombs. In a devastating onslaught, more than 100 targets were hit in the first 10 minutes alone, resulting in the tragic loss of over 300 lives and leaving more than 1,000 injured, as reported by Lebanon’s health ministry.
In response to the violence, Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, issued a statement condemning Israel for its actions. He accused the nation of targeting “densely populated neighbourhoods” and lamented the deaths of unarmed civilians, asserting that such attacks violated international law.
By the next morning, hundreds of bombs had fallen across Lebanon — with more than 100 targets struck in the first 10 minutes alone — killing over 300 people and injuring more than 1,000, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
In a statement, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused Israel of striking “densely populated neighbourhoods” and said the attacks killed unarmed civilians, in breach of international law.
Ayoub stood in the mountains above Beirut, the sun warm on his skin, blue skies overhead. Below him was rubble — the remnants of Israel’s largest wave of strikes on Lebanon since Israel launched its invasion last month.
On Wednesday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched what it described as the largest coordinated attack on Lebanon since 2 March, “targeting more than 100 Hezbollah command centres and military sites” across Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, Mount Lebanon, Sidon and several villages in southern Lebanon.
Most of the strikes occurred in civilian-populated areas where the IDF claims Hezbollah is operating. Warnings were issued ahead of some attacks in southern Beirut and southern Lebanon. The IDF also struck parts of central Beirut, with no advance evacuation warnings reported for those areas.
For 33-year-old Ayoub, who has already been displaced three times from his home in Dahiyeh — a suburb in southern Beirut commonly referred to as a Hezbollah stronghold — whatever hope he had was taken overnight.
“Suddenly, the Israeli army escalated the war in Lebanon. They made about a hundred airstrikes in 10 minutes. They didn’t give any warning, which led to a lot of casualties.”
No warning, no safe place
Ayoub had been sheltering with his uncle in the mountains — a place he’d previously described as a safe haven, away from the bombardment hitting the southern suburbs of Beirut since hostilities intensified on 2 March.
That sense of safety disappeared after a bomb landed 300 metres from where he was staying.
“I went there 10 minutes after they bombed the building and I saw the massive destruction,” he says.
“I saw the ambulance helping the injured people. I think five or six people got killed.”
That was the moment the mountains stopped feeling safe.
There’s no safe place now.
“They are targeting most of the places right now,” Ayoub says.
Israel has maintained its strikes target Hezbollah military infrastructure and personnel.
The IDF’s international spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, has dismissed suggestions that Israel’s military operations put civilians at risk, saying the IDF acts under international law and takes steps to avoid civilian harm.
“We’ve seen Hezbollah disperse over different areas, taking advantage of the warnings that we provide for civilians, to also hide for themselves among the civilians, moving, trying to scatter their operations in different locations,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
“We operate under international law with every single target, and do everything that we can to avoid harm to civilians.”
But Ayoub says that’s not what he’s seeing.
“They are not targeting military sites. They are targeting residential buildings. They justify it through saying they’re targeting members of Hezbollah, but the people who got killed are babies and women — it’s not a proper justification.”
He’s particularly shaken by the strikes on central Beirut.
“The centre of Beirut, it’s not like a base or not like the southern suburbs … it’s a very touristic city. A lot of people live in Beirut — very educated people. Most of the people speak three or four languages.”
The ceasefire that forgot Lebanon
The confusion isn’t just felt on the ground — it has also become a point of geopolitical contention.
The US and Israel say the Iran ceasefire does not extend to Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also made it clear that the ceasefire does not apply to Lebanon, saying Israel would continue striking Hezbollah “with full force”.
But Iran and Pakistan, which brokered the agreement, say it explicitly does.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called for an immediate end to Israeli strikes on Lebanon, warning the violence risks undermining the “fragile” ceasefire.
“In relation to Lebanon, we’ve said the ceasefire should be respected by both Israel and Hezbollah. There is a risk that continued conflict in Lebanon will risk the ceasefire itself across the region,” she told ABC News Breakfast on Thursday.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who is expected to head the Iranian delegation opposite US vice president JD Vance in Islamabad — where further ceasefire talks are being held this weekend — said Lebanon and the rest of Iran’s regional allies were inseparable parts of any ceasefire.
A Pakistani source said Pakistan was also exploring diplomatic efforts for Lebanon as well as Yemen, where Israel has also hit Iran-aligned forces.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Vance described the dispute as a “legitimate misunderstanding” — though for those living through it, the distinction offered little reassurance as strikes continued.
Sabine Abiaad, who is based in Beirut and works for women’s rights organisation ActionAid Arab Region, described the emotional whiplash.
“Early this morning, it was confirmed there was a two-week ceasefire after the war between the US, Iran and Israel, with hopes it would end soon,” Abiaad tells SBS News.
“We thought Lebanon was included.”
For the first time in weeks, people slept with a glimmer of hope — but by morning that collapsed.
She described seeing displaced families who had started returning south overnight — only to face renewed evacuation orders by morning as strikes resumed in southern villages.
“In Lebanon, uncertainty is not a passing moment. It is what people are forced to live with every day,” she says.
Netanyahu said on Thursday he had instructed Israel to begin direct peace talks with Lebanon as soon as possible — talks that would centre on the disarmament of Hezbollah.
An hour before Netanyahu’s statement, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said he was working on a diplomatic track that was starting to be viewed “positively” by international actors.
Talks are expected to begin in Washington next week, a US state department spokesperson confirmed.
But Hezbollah leader Ali Fayyad said in a statement on Thursday that the group rejected direct negotiations with Israel and the Lebanese government should prioritise a ceasefire before any further steps.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned the US and Israel that it would deliver a “regret-inducing response” if attacks on Lebanon did not stop.
‘Kills the soul’
Even before Wednesday’s strikes, the toll of the war on Lebanon’s population has been profound.
In the northern city of Tripoli, away from the heaviest bombardment but home to many displaced families, fear still lingers.
In interviews provided to SBS News by ActionAid Arab Region, Fatima Mourad, who was displaced from her home, spoke of a generation robbed not just of safety but of the ability to plan for the future.
“People have started losing hope because unfortunately, we don’t know if we’ll still be here tomorrow,” she said. “People are living day by day and we no longer have the dreams we once hoped to build for the long term.”
She described the constant fear that has taken hold.
“Even when anyone hears a blast — even fireworks — we immediately think it might be an attack on our area.”
There’s a sense of fear that dominates.
Abdulkader Tulaimat, also in Tripoli, said the war was affecting every dimension of life.
“It’s affecting us on multiple levels — emotionally, financially, and economically,” he said.
“Emotionally, people are anxious about what might happen, fearful for their future, and distressed about what’s going on and by what people are being subjected to.”
Yara, a young Lebanese woman also displaced in Tripoli, put it in starker terms.
“This last displacement and the recent escalation have psychologically destroyed all of us,” she said.
“I no longer have hope. It’s very hard to go from being safe one night to suddenly losing everything overnight.
“This thing kills the soul, the heart — and even one’s mental well-being.”
Anger where hope once was
Lebanon’s death toll since 2 March has risen to 1,888, with more than 6,000 wounded and over one million people displaced, according to Lebanese authorities.
The conflict has unfolded alongside a deep economic crisis, leaving many struggling to afford basic necessities, such as food and housing.
“Nobody knows when the ceasefire is going to happen. It’s a very tough situation,” Ayoub explains.
The hope that had briefly flickered is gone now, replaced by anger and frustration among some of those affected.
The people were hopeful about the ceasefire, but not anymore after yesterday.
“I’m feeling angry because they are killing people without any purpose,” he says.
“Everyone is angry now and stressed about the situation.”
He’s not just angry at Israel and the US; he also directs his frustration more broadly at the international community.
“We have zero hope that the world will do anything to [help] us. Nothing. All the people are collaborators with what they are doing to us — the whole world.
“I put shame on the United Nations and on countries around the world.
“They are killing innocent people.”
— With additional reporting by Gabrielle Katanasho and Reuters.
