Residents across Lebanon are preparing for a possible resumption of intense Israeli military operations, more than six months after a ceasefire was announced in April, Al Jazeera reported on Friday. In previously affected areas — particularly Beirut's southern suburbs and the far south — people are packing emergency bags, stockpiling food and medication, charging electronic devices and maintaining fuel supplies, and many are considering evacuation or relocation options if attacks resume.

Source: Al Jazeera

The trigger is regional, not local: recent reports suggest the Trump administration may consider coordinating military action with Israel against Iran, prompting concerns that Hezbollah — which receives backing from Iran — could resume attacks on Israel and bring an Israeli response down on Lebanon again, Al Jazeera reported.

A country that has already fled twice

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has persisted since October 2023, with Lebanon's health ministry reporting approximately 9,000 deaths, concentrated during the escalations in autumn 2024 and in March and April 2026. Israel has occupied territory up to 10 kilometres south of the border and established what it calls the "Yellow Line", where ongoing military operations have rendered some areas potentially uninhabitable for extended periods. A ceasefire took effect in April following a week of intensive bombardment, and in June a US-brokered framework agreement established "pilot zones" where Israeli forces would withdraw and the Lebanese army would move in to disarm Hezbollah, Al Jazeera reported.

The preparations Al Jazeera describes match earlier reporting of the same fear. Asharq Al-Awsat has reported that many residents of Dahieh, Beirut's southern suburbs, who fled in past rounds are not rushing back, that others keep backup apartments in areas considered safer, and that elderly residents in the south are relocating north to avoid another evacuation under fire. Israel's Maariv newspaper has reported military preparations for scenarios that include a possible occupation of the southern cities of Tyre, Sidon and Nabatieh if war with Iran resumes and Hezbollah joins the fighting — reporting that Lebanese ministerial sources, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, said they could not rule out.

Inside Lebanon, the state is simultaneously moving against Hezbollah's arsenal in court — Beirut's military court recently charged 13 suspects over a seized Hezbollah explosives shipment, a case testing the government's ability to enforce its authority without a confrontation. Read more: Lebanon's military court charges 13 over Hezbollah explosives

Pressure that does not wait for bombs

Israeli officials have also made accusations about Lebanese army compliance with the framework agreement, which analysts view as potential justification for renewed operations, and international observers note that Israel has continued destructive activities in southern Lebanon even after the ceasefire announcement, Al Jazeera reported.

For residents, the toll is already being paid without a single new strike: many report trauma, insomnia and anxiety about potential displacement, while economic pressure mounts, with the World Bank projecting inflation to reach 17.5 percent in Lebanon this year. Analysts warn that repeated conflict cycles combined with economic deterioration could precipitate broader social instability, as residents exhaust both their savings and their emotional reserves, Al Jazeera reported.

For now, Lebanon's war is one of waiting: bags packed by the door, phones charged, fuel cans full — a whole country measuring, once again, how much warning it will get if the regional war comes back for it.