thanks for doing this @jannisgrimm.bsky.social ✋

Thoroughly disgusting that bombs are dropping as a public relations manoeuvre

I'm sharing this because I know that many people that many who follow me on here may not fully know all this, and while I research Lebanon and its politics, I'm also Lebanese and just plainly want to communicate how absolutely devastating of a day (compounding a horrible week & year) this has been.

Unlike in 2006, fleeing to Syria by land is a more challenging (& less evidently safe) option, & the already heavily weakened infrastructure & economic crisis that Lebanon’s population has faced over the last years will only make both accessing safety & providing relief that much more constrained.

But there are also unfortunately reports of landlords evicting Syrians to provide shelter to Lebanese, & of some municipalities refusing to allow for displaced people to seek shelter in their towns and villages (and this was already the case with the over 160k displaced already since Oct 7).

There are a number of different actors on the ground, including state actors (local officials here are so important!) but also civil society groups, ad hoc mutual aid groups, political parties, and others that are coming together to provide people with basic needs, shelter, food, water.

In addition to the hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese from the South, the Beqaa, and other regions, there are hundreds of thousands of Syrians and Palestinians who are displaced, yet again. The complexity of the displacement situation cannot be overstated.

It's also a greater death toll than the August 4 blast, an explosion that destroyed large parts of downtown Beirut only 4 years ago -- an event that rightfully shook the entire country.