Lebanon

Background reviewed 2026-10-23 · Background as of 2026-10

Background

Hezbollah began firing at Israeli positions on 8 October 2023, the day after the Hamas-led attack on Israel. Cross-border exchanges escalated into a full-scale Israeli air campaign and ground operation in southern Lebanon in September 2024, ending with a US- and French-brokered ceasefire on 27 November 2024.

In 2025 a new president and government took office and the cabinet tasked the army with bringing all weapons under state control, which Hezbollah rejected. Fighting resumed on a large scale in March 2026 during the wider war involving Iran; direct Lebanese–Israeli talks were held in Washington in April 2026 and a 10-day ceasefire was announced, later extended.

History

Lebanon’s political system divides power among religious communities, a balance that broke down in the civil war of 1975–1990. The Taif Agreement ended the war, but Syrian troops remained until 2005, and Israel occupied a strip of southern Lebanon until 2000. Hezbollah, formed in the 1980s during the Israeli occupation, kept its weapons after the civil war and became both an armed force and a major political party.

A month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 ended with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which expanded the UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL in the south. Since 2019 Lebanon has also faced one of the worst economic collapses in modern history, and in August 2020 a huge explosion at the port of Beirut devastated parts of the capital.

Main parties

Hezbollah — Lebanese Shia armed group and political party, aligned with Iran.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) — Conduct air strikes and ground operations in Lebanon.
Lebanese Armed Forces — The national army, tasked with deploying in the south under the ceasefire arrangements.
UNIFIL — UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon since 1978.

Key dates

1975-04 — Lebanese civil war begins; it ends in 1990.
2006-07-12 — A 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah begins; it ends with UN Security Council resolution 1701.
2020-08-04 — A massive explosion at the port of Beirut devastates parts of the capital.
2023-10-08 — Hezbollah begins cross-border attacks on Israeli positions.
2024-09 — Israel escalates with an extensive air campaign and, from 1 October, a ground operation.
2024-11-27 — Israel–Hezbollah ceasefire takes effect.
2025-01-09 — Parliament elects army commander Joseph Aoun as president.
2026-03-02 — Hezbollah fires rockets into Israel; large-scale Israeli strikes and ground operations follow.
2026-04-16 — A 10-day Israel–Lebanon ceasefire is announced after direct talks in Washington.

Humanitarian situation

Both rounds of war displaced large numbers of people from southern Lebanon, the Bekaa valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut. Lebanon also hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world relative to its size, mainly from Syria, during a deep economic crisis that began in 2019.

How to read reports about Lebanon

Strikes are often reported by village name; many small villages in the south have several spellings in English.
Who is responsible for an attack is left to the linked reports.

Recent events

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