Devastation at every turn greets UN aid mission to south Lebanon

This article is published in association with United Nations.

A UNICEF relief mission reached a large hospital in the southern Lebanese town of Tebnine on Thursday, only to find massive destruction and staggering needs.

“I came here two weeks ago and we’ve come back today again with a convoy… but what is different today is the whole street in front of the hospital is completely destroyed,” said UN Children’s Fund spokesperson, Christophe Boulierac.

In an exclusive video interview with UN News while on mission, Mr. Boulierac showed that although the hospital was still standing, much of what had been around it was not. 

Beside heaps of rubble, collapsed houses lay in ruins, amid burnt-out cars at every turn.

‘Completely destroyed’

The hospital is “kind of functional, but they were running out of water, out of medicine, out of energy. I don’t know about the generator, but it’s likely not working properly,” the UNICEF official continued, before pointing to the large solar panel generator system installed by the agency beside the medical facility that appeared to have been blown up.Tweet URL

“All the buildings in the streets just near the hospitals, they were normal two weeks ago and today they are completely, completely destroyed,” Mr. Boulierac stressed.

“You can see over there the first house, the second house, the third house, the fourth house, the fifth house, sixth, seventh…at least eight houses completely destroyed.”

Desperate measures 

As a fragile ceasefire with Israel beginning 16 April still holds, an unknown number of people are streaming back to their homes in the south, only for some to find them simply flattened. 

The situation remains “very dangerous, especially for civilians”, Mr. Boulierac said, noting major challenges over the provision of water, electricity, health and education. 

“It is still very unstable and still very uncertain, especially for the people, the over one million people who had to leave their homes on 2 March,” the date when Hezbollah attacks on Israel prompted Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon, sparking the latest crisis. 

“And out of them, let’s not forget the 400,000 children who need everything,” the UNICEF worker stressed.

Tributes to fallen ‘blue helmets’ 

In related news, the continued support of UN Member States to Lebanon will be “indispensable” to boost the country’s national armed forces and provide humanitarian assistance with more than one million people still uprooted by the Middle East war, the UN’s peacekeeping chief said on Wednesday.

“Israel will have to do what it takes to create the space and the political and practical and security conditions for that to happen,” said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, speaking in Geneva.

In an update on the situation in Lebanon, he noted that some 80,000 civilians have remained south of the Litani River despite widespread airstrikes and evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military. 

Many civilians have already headed back to the south, despite the dangers and difficulties of crossing bombed bridges. “It’s going to be challenging to them, they will need support. UNIFIL has recently stepped up its activity in support of humanitarian assistance,” the peacekeeping chief said.

Israeli forces violating Security Council resolution

He noted that the continued presence of the Israeli forces in Lebanese territory “is a violation of resolution 1701” – the Security Council text adopted in 2006 calling for Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants to exit southern Lebanon, and a total end to hostilities.

Mr. Lacroix also paid tribute to the five UNIFIL peacekeepers killed in the south in recent days, three from Indonesia and two from France.

The death of French caporal-chef Anicet Girardin, 31, was announced on Wednesday. It follows an attack on a UNIFIL convoy which came under fire on 18 April while clearing a road in southern Lebanon to re-establish access to isolated UNIFIL positions.  

An initial UN assessment found that the peacekeepers came under fire from non-state armed groups, presumably Hezbollah.

“I reiterate my condolences to France and Indonesia and to the families of the deceased peacekeepers,” he said, insisting that “our peacekeepers are really making a true difference and they’re doing this against the backdrop of an increasingly dangerous environment”.

The situation for the UN’s peacekeepers in southern Lebanon remains uncertain, but it has improved since the force’s headquarters at Naqoura was hit in late March by “a non-state actor”, amid intense Israeli exchanges of fire with Hezbollah fighters. 

“The headquarters, of UNIFIL Naqoura is now in an area where there is a presence of the Israel Defense Forces. That doesn’t mean that UNIFIL is not able to move and operate, even within limits and constraints,” Mr. Lacroix said. 

“Those limits have somewhat loosened up since the beginning of this what I call the relative ceasefire, not full, but still better than during these active hostilities over the past couple of weeks.”