Lebanon (MNN) — Hours after the announcement of a ceasefire in the United States-Israeli war with Iran, Israel launched intensified strikes on Beirut, Lebanon. 

“In ten minutes, we had like 100 strikes,” says Nuna with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon, referring to a report from the Israeli military. “[The strikes] are so violent and strong.”

Nuna says the increased Israeli military response came because Israel can now focus on a single military front. 

“But also they have intelligence on where the people who are involved in any military activity against Israel are located,” she adds. “All these military people are trying to find refuge in places that have nothing to do with the conflict” — places such as civilian apartment buildings.

Beirut, Lebanon

(Stock photo courtesy of Etienne Boulanger via Unsplash)

The fact that Hezbollah members are positioning themselves among civilians adds a challenging layer to Lebanon’s strife: It is dangerous for others to help the displaced. Many of the more than 1 million people displaced since Hezbollah fired on Israel on March 2 are Shia Muslims, the same branch of Islam that Hezbollah springs from. This causes others to fear that the family or individual at their door could be affiliated with Hezbollah and might put them at risk of collateral damage if Israel conducts a strike.

The Iran ceasefire has also started an exodus homeward. 

“Because of the ceasefire in Iran, we had so many trying to go back to the south, or to areas in the south,” says Nuna, describing traffic jams in Beirut on Wednesday. “Now with the strikes, it’s a very difficult time, because people are thinking of leaving. Some of them are on the road. Some of them have somebody in one of the regions that were targeted on the way back.”

Communication lines have also been disrupted. Yesterday, someone at a Triumphant Mercy Lebanon center said they could not reach their son and daughter by phone. 

“The emotional trauma is very high, especially when you’re not able to communicate,” says Nuna. 

What will it take for peace?

Any ceasefire for Lebanon must address the root issue of the conflict with Israel: the disarmament of Hezbollah. Otherwise, Nuna says,  “It will just lead to another round of hostilities in a few months, in a few years.”

“Let’s finish completely. Let’s remove the weapons of Hezbollah,” she says. “I don’t want people to die, but I want this dealt with so that Lebanon will be with one government, one police, one military, one just one entity, and not have all these militias inside that are another government within our own government.”

Please pray for Triumphant Mercy staff as they continue sharing the hope of Jesus while under heavy strain themselves.

(Photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy Lebanon)

“Everybody’s on high alert. It’s like, ‘Do you want to close the center early? Do you want to let everybody go early?’ And at the same time, it’s not safe to let them go early because we don’t know, so [we should] keep them inside,” says Nuna. 

The hope of Jesus is the foundation of the work Triumphant Mercy Lebanon does. (More on that here.)

“How can we even give an encouraging word, or a word of hope of a future, if we didn’t have the gospel? Without the gospel, I can tell you, we are nothing,” says Nuna. 

Ask God to mercifully allow change to come to Lebanon quickly rather than through prolonged conflict. Nuna asks for this based on Jesus’ words in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. In those passages, Jesus teaches about the signs of the end of the world and the calamities that will occur in those times. 

“Pray that the time would be shortened, because otherwise nobody can sustain it,” she says. “This is what I’m praying, that what God wants to do in this country — the way God wants to cleanse the country, or revive the country — will be done quickly. The time and the extension of time is so tiring and draining and emotionally hard.”

 

Header photo of Beirut, Lebanon courtesy of Michael Starkie via Unsplash.