Front Burner - Israel steps up assault on Lebanon

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

One of the most brutal fronts in the escalating war in the Middle East right now is in Lebanon. Israel’s ground troops have crossed the border into the south of the country, and the bombing campaign continues in cities like Beirut. Israel says its mission is to root out and defang Hezbollah and to carve out a security buffer zone in the south.  According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, at least 850 people have been killed, including over a hundred children. Around 800 thousand people are now internal refugees, fueling a crisis the current government is struggling to handle.  Beirut-based journalist Rania Abouzeid has covered political upheaval, human rights and conflicts in the Middle East for more than two decades. She spoke to host Jayme Poisson about how the conflict in Lebanon got to where it is, and where it could be headed.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

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Hi, everyone. I'm Jamie Poisson. One of the most brutal fronts in the escalating war in the Middle East right now is in Lebanon. Israel is warning this is just the beginning. There's been hundreds of airstrikes in multiple locations. Civilians are not spared in what Israel calls its war against Hezbollah. In the south of the country, Israel's ground troops have crossed the border. In Beirut, smoke from bomb. Amings fill the skyline. Israel says its mission is to root out in defang Hezbollah and to carve out a security buffer zone in the south. The human cost is already staggering. At least 850 people have been killed, including over 100 children, according to Lebanon's health ministry. Upwards of 800,000 people, almost a fifth of the country, are now internal refugees creating a crisis the current government is unequipped to handle.

Today, Beirut-based journalist Rania Abu Zaid is here to help us understand the growing conflict in Lebanon. How did it get here and where could it be headed? She's covered political upheaval, human rights, and conflicts in the Middle East for more than two decades. Rania, hi, it's a pleasure to have you. Thank you very much for having me. So you are in Beirut right now where there's been bombing attacks. What are you seeing? And how different is it from what we've seen before?

Well, those numbers that you mentioned in your intro are rapidly escalating, and every number is, of course, a person. I went to get my car, and there was an airstrike. We barely made it out. It was huge, it was big fire. The kids was sleep. I live in this neighborhood. I haven't left my home. Where am I supposed to go? I'd rather stay in my house and die with dignity. I'm not afraid of death. We will not bow to Israeli bombing. come down, even if they have a treaty or negotiate, it will come back. I didn't leave. They pushed me to leave. They put me back two choices. Either you die or you leave. In Beirut, the capital, the shelters are at capacity. Those shelters are public schools,

mosques, churches, sports stadium has been opened, and similar sites that the government has been able to repurpose. And there are similar shelters that have been opened across the country. Now, according to the Social Affairs Minister, several thousand people remain out in the open on the streets of Beirot, and that is evident. You can see them everywhere. It was a very stormy weekend with heavy downpours and the displaced were in flimsy tense, suffering terrible conditions. Now the government has said that there are, you know, there is still capacity in some of the shelters in northern Lebanon to accommodate the thousands who are still on the streets and it's organizing buses to try and ferry people there because many of those

who fled their homes did so with nothing except the clothes on their back. The southern suburbs of Beirut are being subject to intermittent pounding by Israeli airstrikes. The area has been largely emptied following the mass forced displacement orders issued by Israel. But I know from people who live there that they continue darting in and out to check on if their building is still standing or to try and retrieve some items that they can use, blankets, clothing, whatever. They might be, you know, a couple pots, whatever they can take from their homes if they are still standing. I live in Mahawad, which is in the southern suburbs of Beirut,

but I'm currently displaced to the north of Beirut. I came today just to check on my house and my belongings. God willing, things will calm down. The extent of the destruction, like just driving through that area, is truly, it's like it's immense. There are streets that have been reduced to rubble. Now, even if these were buildings that contained has been offices or operations, these were people's homes and they were their businesses.

Personally, it's hard to navigate, not just because of the destruction in the streets, but because some of the landmarks have been destroyed. At the same time, you know, so Beirut is a pretty small city, but there are some neighborhoods that aren't being subjected to the airstrikes where life is continuing, I wouldn't say normal, because nothing is normal. But there's a sense of like a tense normalcy. So the schools are still open. The private schools that haven't been turned into shelters are still open.

for in-person classes, so to our businesses, cafes. It's this, you know, you've got people in the streets, literally, in flimsy tents, and then you've got cafes that are still open. And that's also part of the nature of war, because it tends to happen in pockets. And, you know, as I said, unfortunately, the Lebanese are very familiar with it, very experienced at it. And, you know, to borrow that sort of overused phrase, they have to keep calm and carry on. Yeah, I mean, just on that point, have you ever seen anything quite like this before?

So I covered the previous war, 203-24. I covered the one before that, which was 2006, which also, you know, there was massive destruction of both the southern suburbs and the south at that time. So the level of destruction is sadly familiar, but the context is not. And that's for me the key difference. The context domestically in Lebanon and also regionally, given that, you know, the American-Israeli war in Iran. I think it might be helpful if we just remind people of some of the main players here. So first of all, there's Hezbollah. It is not just a militia. It's also a political party and an essential part of Lebanese society.

And just briefly, how did they become such a power? armed force inside Lebanese society and politics. So Hezbollah was formed in 1982 in response to an Israeli invasion that year. And in 1982, the Israelis not only sort of, you know, invaded southern Lebanon. They reached all the way to the capital Beirut, which is about more or less in the middle of the country. Israelis are fighting their grip on Beirut all the time. By sea and by land, they're only a few miles behind me now, Dermour. And only 15 minutes ago, five planes came in and dropped.

bombs on this spot, very close to the center of Beirut, leaving this damage. It is these sort of raids which are driving the defenders of this city into ever tighter defence rings around it. Israeli troops have now cut off Beirut entirely, and their guns are directed against the PLO headquarters in the city. After the failed attempt at a ceasefire between the two forces, it looks as though the Israelis are preparing to strike the PLO at its heart and crush it. Hizbelah was formed with the assistance and the support and the training and the financial support of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. That is not a secret. They don't hide their Iranian support, both moral and physical and

financial. At the end of the Lebanese civil war, it was a 15-year civil war that ended in 1990. As part of the agreement that ended the war, all the local militias had to be disbanded. Hezbollah was allowed to keep its arms because it was. engaged in what the Lebanese state said was resistance against the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, because while the Israelis invaded in 82, they stayed there. And a security formula was popularized by successive governments ever since the end of the Civil War. And the formula was the army, the people, and the resistance at one hand. And that sort of positioned Hezbollah's weapons within a national defense framework. And it gave them the cover of

like, you know, that they were a resistance group. They weren't sort of involved in any sort of internal Lebanese things. That was the framing. So Hezbollah fought the Israelis, and it pushed them out of most of southern Lebanon in 2000. The Israelis continued to occupy a sliver of southern Lebanon, but more or less, they became the only Arab force, actually, to contribute to an Israeli retreat from occupied Arab territory. Now, Hezbollah is not just the military wing. It's also a political party.

It has parliamentarians who have been in parliament. You know, it has had parliamentarians for decades. It has had ministers and successive governments as well. It also has a social arm. And that social arm runs schools. It has medical clinics, hospitals. It has like a first responder unit, which is coming under attack now. by the Israelis, a number of medics have been killed, both in Hezbollah's Islamic Health Authority,

that's what it's called, as well as the Red Cross. Hezbollah also has a financial institution, which provides microloans, and that institution in particular has been very heavily targeted by the Israelis in this war. So that's domestically. So you've got military wing, social wing, political wing. Now, zooming out a little bit, Hasbullah is also part of... Iran's access of resistance, which is an access that the Iranians say sort of groups, anti-Israeli and anti-American groups, armed factions in the region.

Now, that alliance includes Yemen's Houthis. It includes Palestinian Hamas, some Iraqi militias, and Syria under the Assad's. That obviously, you know, Syria was obviously removed from that equation. December 2024 when Assad fell. You know, you have covered the post-October 7th prolonged bombardments that Hezbo and Israel were embroiled in. Israel has spent the last two or so years, right, trying to weaken Hezbollah, killing senior leaders

and targeting infrastructure. And the two sides had technically reached the ceasefire in November, 2024. Relief and revelry in the Lebanese capital. After Beirut endured months of Israeli bombardment. The ceasefire began precisely two months to the day since Israel assassinated Hezbollah's longest serving leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

But the UN says Israel violated that ceasefire thousands of times and yet, Hezbollah chose to respond after the killing of Iran's supreme leader, not those earlier violations. And I just, what ultimately explains that decision? Why escalate now? Well, that's a question being asked in Beirut

and that's being very angrily. Aston Beidot, I have to say, by some quarters. To step back, you know, the Lebanese are very divided over the issue of Hezbollah's arms. There are Lebanese who, you know, even though from the 90s on, the government provided Hezbollah's weapons with the cover of being a resistance group, there are some Lebanese who always oppose that. But especially now, the question of why, like, you know, the UN recorded more than 15,000 Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty during the ceasefire.

the attacks did not only target Hezbollah and its infrastructure. It also killed a number of civilians, including children. More than 350 Lebanese were killed in those attacks. And Hezbollah did not respond. Now, Hezbollah said that it was given, that it was, quote, being patient. They used the word patient and that it was giving the government time to see if its diplomacy would force Israel to comply by the demands outlined in. the ceasefire agreement.

And some of those demands included Israel withdrawing from five hilltop positions that it had newly occupied in the post-October 7th War and, you know, moving its troops back across its border. That didn't happen. They're still in those five positions. And Hezbollah, on March 2nd, took the decision unilaterally to lob about six rockets, most of which were intercepted that didn't even reach their target. across the border, and in so doing, reignited the front.

Hezbollah said that it did it for, you know, to avenge the death of Iran's supreme leader and also because, quote, it said something along the lines of its patients had run out. And it didn't think that the government was going to achieve anything with its diplomacy and that they weren't just going to continue sitting on their hands. In a televised message, Asbalah's leader, Naim Qasam said, we've prepared ourselves for a long confrontation, God willing, They'll be surprised on the battlefield. At University of Montreal, researchers are improving lives all over the world,

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We'd love to talk. Business. Similarly, like last time, Israel says that it is targeting Hezbollah's military infrastructure, including, like, missile launch sites. But we are seeing strikes hit residential buildings and large civilian areas, too, right? Yes, yeah. You know, you spoke earlier about all of the people who have been displaced from their homes, but what do we actually know about Israel's targeting?

strategy at this point and what kind of civilian death and destruction have we seen? Well, I mean, here in Lebanon we're seeing reports of entire families being killed in their homes, including children. Health workers have come under fire. They've been

killed. The Israeli occupation has unfortunately been claiming ambulances were being used for non-medical purposes. We affirm this is unjustified. These vehicles are transporting the wounded and the sick, and these nurses, doctors and paramedics, aren't going in those vehicles with their own lives at risk.

All international laws and the Geneva Conventions protect these vehicles, yet they are being targeted. The World Health Organization has very strongly sort of condemned Israel's attacks against health workers here in Lebanon. So we're seeing a much broader sort of target base. What is the strategy? What is Israel's strategy at this point? Well, today Israel's defense minister announced the start of a ground invasion.

They said that it would be limited. But based on the maps, the force displacement maps, which extend 10 to 15 percent of Lebanese territory, it looks like it might not be limited. The Israeli forces have begun a ground operation in Lebanon to eliminate threats and protect the residents of the Galilee and the North. The hundreds of thousands of shiremen. Shiite residents of southern Lebanon, who've been and are being evacuated from their homes,

will not return to the homes south of the Latani River until the security of the residents of the north is guaranteed. Even soon after the ceasefire was inked, Israel's Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said that the, and so too did Netanyahu. They both said that Israelis would continue to occupy those five hilltop positions in violation of a ceasefire. and Katz also said that Israel would try and establish what he called a buffer zone in southern Lebanon. And what they did during the ceasefire was that they effectively sort of controlled that border belt, and it's about 100 kilometers long. It's full of like hundreds of villages. And they controlled it not just by their physical presence on those five hilltops,

but more importantly, via air power with drones and things like that. So any sort of locals who try to rebuild in there, towns would be subject to drone strikes. They had effectively started establishing an occupation zone, a no-go zone. And they used the ceasefire to also detonate homes and to spray pesticides to clear what is a very virgin agricultural sort of heartland to do what they have said they would do now, which is to turn parts of southern Lebanon, to make them resemble Gaza. I mean, as Smotrich, the finance minister said that southern Lebanon would resemble Khan Yunus and Gaza. So that's what they were acting on during the ceasefire in terms of making the border area a no-go zone.

At the same time, under the terms of the ceasefire, the Lebanese army increased its numbers down south. And along with Unifil, the peacekeepers, was clearing the area of Hezbollah infrastructure, weapons caches, and things like that, because the ceasefire said that Hezbollah had to be disarmed south of the Littani River. which is a river that cuts across Lebanon about 30 kilometers from the Israeli border. So, you know, they seem to want to create this debt zone that is also indicated by some of the schemes that were being floated, some of the projects that were being floated during the ceasefire. One of them was an American and Israeli proposal to depopulate the area and turn it into an industrial zone where entry and exit would be sort of approved by the Israelis, but nobody actually lived there.

And, you know, this idea for Southerners who, I mean, you know, some of these villages are older than Israel, and for them to have their villages erased off the map, it's just not going to fly. It's a very difficult sort of thing for them to accept and they won't accept it. That is, after all, why, you know, that contributed to the creation of Hezbollah in the first place. In what position is Hezbollah in at the moment to respond to this military campaign? And then also what about the Lebanese government? So let's take the military campaign first. So during the previous war, Hezbollah suffered what its leadership admitted were, I mean, quote,

they used the word unprecedented to describe the blows that they had suffered. but don't forget the pager attacks, followed by the walkie-talkie attacks. A funeral stemming from yesterday's pager attacks suddenly the sight of fresh chaos. A new wave of seemingly bigger explosions at funerals, apartment buildings, at mobile phone shops. Again, communications devices the focus. This time, VHF walkie-talkies an apparent sleeper weapon. The assassinations of dozens,

of very senior commanders culminating in the death of the long-tenured Secretary General, Sayyat Hassan Nasrallah, who'd been the Secretary General for decades. But they seem to have regrouped, because if we look at what they're doing in this war, they are firing on some days, you know, on some days they're undertaking dozens of operations against both the Israelis in Lebanon, as well as firing rockets and sending armed drones into Israel, some of which they're piercing Israel's iron dome air defenses to land as far south as Tel Aviv. So they still have some fight in them. And where is the Lebanese government in this?

So this government in particular has done things which no post-war government has done before. So even before this war started, the Lebanese government was the first that didn't apply that security formula that I mentioned earlier. earlier, the army, the people and the resistance. In fact, it didn't even mention the resistance. And that was the first time in about 30 years that a cabinet manifesto did not mention the resistance. Instead, it emphasized the state's responsibility to defend the country and also to have to monopolize arms and decisions of war and peace. But on the morning of March 2, after Hezbollah fired those half a dozen or so rockets into northern Israel, this government went even further, and it declared that Hezbollah's military wing was, quote, illegal.

The Lebanese state hereby declares its outright rejection of any military or security operations launched from Lebanese territory outside the framework of its legitimate institutions. It affirms that the decision over war and peace rests exclusively in its hands, which requires the immediate ban of all Hezbollah security and military activities. And it called on the security forces to disarm Hezbollah and to arrest any sort of members that try and head down south and join the fight. So it really has set itself up in terms of this confrontation between Hezbollah and the state. Yeah. I just, I know how unprecedented it is, but I'm curious to hear your take on how impactful you think it is. Like, do they have the ability to enforce that decision, the Lebanese army? So the Lebanese army is urging caution when it comes to forcibly disarming Hezbollah,

and that's based on precedent because during the 15-year civil war from 75 to 90, when the Lebanese army was tasked with taking on or confronting some sectarian militias, it fragmented along sectarian lines. And the Lebanese army is just about the only national institution, which is considered above the sectarian fray because it's comprised of the sons of, you know, of their 18 officially recognized sects in Lebanon and the Lebanese army is comprised of like all of them, you know.

It is considered a unifying force, one that is politically neutral. It's the glue that holds the country together. So one thing that, you know, Lebanese all agree is worthy of respect. So to place the army against Hezbollah, It's a very dangerous sort of maneuver and people fear civil confrontation. Also, it's a question of timing as well, like the Lebanese army has cautioned about the timing because we've got

the Israelis coming in, you know, and they're talking about setting up a buffer zone. Today, Israel Katz said that, you know, the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who have been displaced will not return until northern Israel is what they consider safe. So we're talking about a potential reoccupation of parts of southern Lebanon. And the Lebanese army is not, it requires political authorization to engage Israel. And it doesn't have that authorization because since about 2005, 2006, it is largely supplied by the U.S. And the U.S. will not allow the Lebanese army to engage against its other ally, the Israelis. So it puts the Lebanese army in a very, very sticky position.

The Lebanese president has floated the idea of direct talks with Israel. How extraordinary is that proposal? It's very extraordinary because, you know, this is a huge deal in this country because since like, I think, like the later 1940s, early 1950s, it is legally considered an act of treason to interact with an Israeli. and it is punishable as such. So the idea of direct talks is a big deal. He has put forward a four-point plan to be followed sequentially, and it starts with an immediate truth, then strengthening the Lebanese army, because it's also poorly equipped in addition to being

unable to sort of act without the cabinet saying. So it's also very poorly equipped. The third point is for the army to enforce the government's order that it has the monopolies. on weapons. And the final point is negotiations with Israel on all sorts of, you know, matters, border demarcation and things moving forward. Now, the Israelis initially rejected talks, but there's been nothing formally yet. It's sort of, you know, a few ministers speaking to the media. So it's a very big deal for the president to suggest direct talks. And it's also a very big deal for him to be rebuffed. How do you think this is likely to play out in the coming days and weeks?

here? Look, nobody here in Lebanon wants a reoccupation of southern Lebanon. What they differ on is how best to avoid that, whether that's by armed confrontation, armed resistance, a Hezbollah way, or whether it's by diplomacy. Now, the people who sort of, you know, support Hezbollah say, well, the government had 15 months of diplomacy and couldn't even get them to agree to, you know, fulfill the requirements of the ceasefire. What's going to be different? now. And they also point to Syria's experience, Syria under the new government. So within hours of Assad fleeing Damascus, Israel, through airstrikes, destroyed Syria's military capabilities. Now, the Syrians have had direct talks with the Israelis, but that doesn't

seem to have prevented the Israelis from occupying even more Syrian territory. And they're also calling on, they also want the Syrians to disarm, basically, from the Israeli border with Syria all the way up to the capital, Damascus, which is a huge, you know, it's a huge territory. So they're dictating what the Syrian government can do in its own territory. So some Lebanese are like, so why would Lebanon be in a better position? But then there are the Lebanese who look at Hezbollah and they say, you know, you are not acting in Lebanon's interests. You acted in. You acted in in Iran's interests, you contributed, you know, you stepped into what was Iran's fight, and that they're exhausted and they're sick and tired of sort of being, having one group

in society make decisions of war and peace instead of the state. So they also say they just want peace. They just want some sort of negotiated agreement, and they don't want one faction in society making decisions for everybody else. These internal tensions, are they also splitting along sectarian lines? And just I wonder if you could elaborate for me a little bit more here on some of the worries that people have there. Yeah. So, I mean, Lebanon has always been divided.

That was, after all, one of the reasons for the Civil War. As I said earlier, there are 18 officially recognized sects in Lebanon, but broadly, they're broadly divided into basically like Christian, Muslim, Druze and others. First thing I'd want to stress is that the sects are not monolithic in terms of political views or orientation. So, for example, you have some Christians who are very, very strongly opposed to Hasbullah's weapons, and there are some Christians who support them. So you can't sort of, you know, people don't sort of fit into nice sectarian pigeonholes. That's the first thing. Now, the south is majority Shiite, and Hasbullah is Shiite.

but there are also, you know, Christian drawers and Sunni villages, and there are a lot of mixed villages in the south. The massive influx, though, of predominantly Shiite Lebanese into other parts of the country is causing some social tensions, and that's because of what happened in the last war, in the 2023-24 war, because Israeli drones chased some of the displaced and targeted them in their place of refuge. and people are afraid that the same thing is going to happen again, that if they take somebody in, the Israelis might have them on a target list,

and then the whole building will come down. I mean, I remember in the last war, visiting this very sleepy Christian village. I don't know, it had like a couple hundred inhabitants. It was at the top of a mountain, and a family there had taken in some southerners. and, you know, the building, dozens of people were killed when the building was struck by an Israeli strike. So it's, you know, that's the fear. So many are afraid. But at the same time, I have to say that there are many others who are overcoming that fear to nonetheless step up and shelter and help their fellow Lebanese.

Yeah, we also saw Israel, I don't know if we mentioned it yet in this conversation, targeting some displaced people in Beirut, like the strikes on the beach. Right? Yes, exactly. So you can understand that fear that people might have. Yes. You know, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Gutera, says that the Lebanese people have been dragged into war, that the south of Lebanon risks becoming a wasteland.

And my message to the warring partners is clear. Stop the fighting. Stop the bombing. There is no military solution. only diplomacy, dialogue, and full implementation of the UN Charter and Security Council resolutions. He's calling for over 300 million in support for the country. Canada has promised 37 million in humanitarian aid for Lebanese civilians. I just, what kind of international assistance is reaching Lebanon right now?

I'd like to come back to end this conversation on the people. Yeah. What do civilians need the most right now? Well, first of all, the government is scrambling. I mean, it's just a massive influx of people within a very short period of time. This country has also been through, you know, the last five years have just been disastrous. You know, starting in 2019 with a financial collapse, the currency lost like 98% of its value. 2020, the Beirut Port explosion, if you remember, you know, devastated huge parts of

Beirut, and then, you know, plus the coronavirus, which impacted the whole world. And then, you know, 20, 23, this new war with Israel that's continued into 2024. I mean, it's just been nonstop, you know, punches in the face. So, and the government has limited means and it's trying to, to deal with all of these multiple sort of crises. So it's, it finds itself in a very difficult position. It needs like financial assistance. The other thing is, is that because this is happening now, Within the wider context of the Iran war with America and Israel, a lot of the Gulf states who usually sort of, you know, dig into their very deep pockets and provide aid and assistance to Lebanon are dealing with their own issues at the moment, with, you know, Iranian strikes

on U.S. military bases in their territory and things like that, to say nothing of the mess that is air travel from the Gulf at the moment. So the Lebanese are really sort of, you know, finding themselves on their own in this crisis, unlike the other war, the previous war, when the Gulf and European states, and other countries sort of really did step in to try and provide shelter aid and food aid and various other things that were required by the displaced people. Okay. Rania, I want to thank you so much for this.

Really appreciate it. Thank you so much. All right. So just before we go today, late Monday afternoon, after Rania and I spoke, the Prime Minister's Office issued a joint statement with France, Germany, Italy, and the UK on the conflict in Lebanon. They condemned Hezbollah's attacks on Israel and called for the group to disarm. The leaders also condemned any attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure and made note of how a significant Israeli ground offensive would have, quote,

devastating humanitarian consequences and must be averted. The country's called for meaningful engagement by Israeli and Lebanese officials to negotiate a political solution and urged immediate de-escalation. That is all for today. I'm Jamie Poisson. Thanks so much for listening. Talk to you tomorrow. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.