Israel’s Buffer Zone Deepens Lebanon Displacement Crisis Far Beyond Front Lines
By Alexander Dziadosz, Nazih Osseiran and Catherine Cartier
The Expanding Displacement Crisis in Southern Lebanon
SIDON/BEIRUT, May 28 (Reuters) - The ceasefire agreed in Lebanon last month has brought little respite for civilians, who are being driven from a steadily expanding swathe of the country by a relentless Israeli campaign of evacuations and air strikes.
The U.S.-brokered truce announced on April 16, after about six weeks of fighting, has failed to halt the violence between Israel and Hezbollah. Both are carrying out near-daily attacks while accusing the other of violating the pact.
Scope and Impact of the Buffer Zone
That's left hundreds of thousands of civilians in southern Lebanon displaced from their homes. Shortly after the ceasefire declaration, Israel published a map marking out a buffer zone covering nearly 600 square km (230 sq miles) that it had occupied with ground forces, and listing 57 towns and villages where it had warned residents to evacuate.
Since then, though, the Israel military has carried out hundreds of air strikes on a far wider area outside that occupied zone and issued evacuation orders covering more than 100 additional Lebanese towns and villages, according to a Reuters review of Israeli statements.
Geographic Expansion of Evacuation Orders
Together with the occupied zone, these orders span about 2,000 sq km of Lebanon – about a fifth of the entire country – much of which has been rendered effectively off-limits to residents, according to the review and interviews with local officials, aid workers and displaced people. The reporting provides one of the most detailed pictures yet of the growing displacement crisis engulfing this small country on the eastern Mediterranean.
The fighting is part of a wider conflagration across the Middle East sparked by the Hamas-led attacks on Israel of October 7, 2023. Israel aims to drive back its sworn enemies – Iran and its proxy forces, including Hezbollah and Hamas – with a stated strategy to create "buffer zones" along its borders with Gaza, Syria and now Lebanon to safeguard its citizens.
Fears of Permanent Displacement
The growing evacuation area, along with confusion about ongoing attacks and the eventual extent of the Israeli buffer zone, has made many residents fear they may never return to their homes.
Voices from Displaced Communities
"There is no way we are coming back now," said Iyad Watfi, a mukhtar – elected official – in Bazouriye, who said the town once home to 13,000 people had been hit by multiple air strikes and evacuation orders since the truce. "Last week, we had 20 buildings destroyed in the town in one night."
Only a tiny portion of the population remained, with most others sheltering in tents to the north, he said, adding that few felt safe to return in the foreseeable future.
The Human Toll of Ongoing Conflict
The latest Lebanese conflict erupted on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel in solidarity with Iran, which was under Israeli and U.S. attack. Israel responded with a ground invasion of Lebanon, leading to fighting that has so far killed more than 3,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, according to the Lebanese government.
Military Perspectives and Civilian Realities
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Reuters its air campaign in Lebanon since the ceasefire was not aimed at displacing civilians but rather designed to eliminate threats from Hezbollah, which it accused of embedding forces and weaponry in civilian areas. It characterised the evacuation notices as "recommendations" issued before air strikes, allowing citizens to leave if they choose.
Southern Lebanon "remains an active combat zone where IDF troops continue to engage with terrorist elements on a daily basis," it added.
Hezbollah's media office didn't respond to a request for comment. The group, a Shi'ite Muslim political and military movement, has itself carried out regular attacks including kamikaze drone strikes since the ceasefire. It has said that, despite the truce, it has the right to resist continued Israeli aggression and denies placing military assets in civilian areas.
Displacement Statistics and Local Testimonies
Reuters reached mukhtars from 20 of the towns and villages subject to Israeli evacuation orders since the ceasefire, communities with pre-conflict populations ranging from hundreds to thousands of people. Most estimated the percentage of residents remaining in single digits, saying most had fled northwards or to the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon.
"People's nerves are shattered. They can't take it anymore so they left," said Ali Nazzal, a mukhtar in Srifa who said the village was virtually deserted. "The ceasefire is a lie."
Escalation and Regional Implications
The situation looks increasingly bleak for civilians in Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Monday that Israel would escalate its strikes, prompting residents to flee southern suburbs of Beirut, further to the north. Israel has since issued a new slew of evacuation orders, encompassing more than a dozen new towns and villages and declaring a large section of the south a "combat zone".
The ongoing conflict could have implications for the broader U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, with Tehran demanding a halt to Israeli attacks in Lebanon as a condition in peace talks.
Israel Strikes Over 1,000 Targets Since Truce
Expansion of the Buffer Zone to the Litani River
On March 31, Netanyahu said his country's area of occupation in Lebanon would stretch to the Litani River, about 30 km north of the border with Israel. He described it as "a vast buffer zone" to thwart anti-tank fire and the threat of invasion.
By the April 16 ceasefire, Israeli forces had only occupied about half of that area. However, the subsequent barrage of air strikes and evacuation orders has driven people from areas even well beyond the river. Only about half the towns and villages subject to evacuation orders since the ceasefire are south of the Litani, with the rest to the north of the river, some more than 20 km from the waterway, the review of Israeli statements found.
On May 12, the Israeli military said it had struck more than 1,100 t
