The displacement of hundreds of thousands of people in Lebanon, where Israel and Hezbollah are now at open war, is "disastrous" and the international community so far provides support "nowhere near" the extent of the needs, accuses a UN official.
"With this wave of displaced people, the needs are enormous," says Othman Belbeisi, head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in North Africa and the Middle East, in an interview with AFP. "This situation is disastrous," he continues, as for almost three weeks, Israel has been at open war with Hezbollah, multiplying airstrikes on the strongholds of the pro-Iranian Islamist movement but also on the capital.
For a year already, the belligerents exchanged cross-border fire in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. But since September 23, hostilities have escalated: more than 1,200 people have been killed, and about a million forced to leave their homes. "Lebanon needs more support. What has been gathered so far is nowhere near the needs," assures Belbeisi during a visit to Beirut, where columns of black smoke continue to rise from the southern suburbs.
"Rebuild everything"
The UN has launched an appeal for $426 million in donations to cover its operations for three months, adding that the crisis could last longer. The IOM alone explains that it will need $32 million to assist 400,000 people. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced Friday it has received only $51 million, or 12% of the requested funds.
"We hope everyone can increase their capacity to give," says Belbeisi, in a country plunged into an economic crisis since 2019 and mired in poverty. The figures are actually much larger. The IOM has recorded about 690,000 internally displaced persons in Lebanon and adds that more than 400,000 others have left, mainly Syrians who have returned to their country.
Among the internally displaced, more than 185,000—about a quarter of them—live in reception centers, mostly schools made available by the authorities. As many have rented an apartment or a room, and 47% live "with hosts," according to the IOM, often extended family members. The rest, lacking shelter, sleep in the streets. "It's distressing to see this (displacement) again in Lebanon," affirms Belbeisi, in a country ravaged from 1975 to 1990 by a brutal civil war and a harsh conflict that opposed Israel and Hezbollah for over a month in 2006.
This time again, people left their homes "with nothing, driven only by fear, and now they have to rebuild everything from scratch," continues the UN official. "It must stop as soon as possible."