Lebanon: Flash Update #61 - Escalation of hostilities in Lebanon, as of 27 February 2025

This report is produced by OCHA Lebanon in collaboration with humanitarian partners and the Inter Sector Coordination Group. It covers the period from 21 February- 27 February 2025.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Government of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam gained parliamentary vote of confidence on 26 February.
• Military operations continued, impacting civilian returns, safety, and access to services.
• 59 civilians killed since the cessation of hostilities on 27 November, including nine women and ten children (OHCHR).
• 98,875 people remain displaced outside their cadaster of origin, with 949,571 back in their cadaster of origin (IOM).

SITUATION OVERVIEW

Following the 8 February formation of Lebanon’s new Government, the cabinet of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam won a vote of confidence from Parliament on 26 February with the backing of three quarters of members of parliament (95 of 128). Among key priorities for the Government identified by the Prime Minister in his statement upon the occasion were implementation of Resolution 1701, ensuring a complete Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, asserting the state’s sovereignty over all its territories exclusively through its forces and securing post-conflict reconstruction. In closing remarks, Salam pledged to reinforce the confidence of citizens and of Parliament in his government, with a focus on reforms and state-building.

Military activities by the Israeli Army continued to be reported during the reporting period, including artillery shelling, airstrikes, and airspace violations affecting areas both to the south and the north of the Litani River. The number of recorded airstrikes increased significantly in comparison to the previous week, with 21 airstrikes reported between 21 and 27 February (a 60 per cent increase compared with the period 14 to 20 February, when 13 airstrikes were recorded). The airstrikes targeted locations across Lebanon, including in the Akkar, Baalbek/Hermel, Bekaa, Nabatieh and South governorates, and resulted in several casualties and damage to residential homes, as well as a school in Wadi Khaled (Akkar governorate). On 23 February alone, 15 airstrikes were recorded – the second highest daily total of airstrikes since the start of the cessation of hostilities on 27 November 2024. Despite the passing of the 18 February extended deadline for withdrawal under the cessation of hostilities agreement, the Israeli Army maintains presence at five border points and media reports indicate that the Israeli Army is enforcing four so-called buffer zones along the Blue Line within Lebanon, within which no Lebanese presence is accepted.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) documented 59 conflict-related civilian facilities in Lebanon since the start of the cessation of hostilities and through 26 February 2025, including nine women and ten children. The latest civilian fatality was one girl who succumbed to injuries sustained in an airstrike on 15 February.

The sustained military activities, as well as the level of damage wrought to homes and civilian infrastructure and services during the conflict and after the cessation of hostilities continue to impede the safe and unhindered return and access of people in need to humanitarian and recovery assistance and protection.

As of 26 February, 98,875 (52 per cent women and 48 per cent men) remain displaced outside their cadaster of origin, while 949,571 people were back in their cadaster of origin, according to IOM’s Mobility Snapshot (Round 78). Both figures reflect minimal change since the previous reporting period. Displacement figures are likely to continue to fluctuate in coming weeks as returning households confront destroyed homes and difficulties in accessing essential services and assistance in severely conflict-affected areas. Nearly half of those who remain displaced are from Bint Jbeil district, which was also the area most heavily affected by displacement at the beginning of the escalation hostilities in late 2023. Meanwhile, 2,092 of the displaced remain in 25 collective sites.

As of 25 February, Baalbek Disaster Risk Management Unit (DRM) reported approximately 88,974 new arrivals from Syria since December 8, including 31,382 staying in 182 informal collective shelters (77 per cent of which are full, 141 shelters) with 57,592 hosted in the community, including 20,000 Lebanese returnees (UNHCR). The number of people in collective shelters has decreased as some families moved to other types of accommodation.