New data reveals impact of war on civilians in Lebanon

As residents of southern Lebanon begin returning to neighbourhoods reduced to rubble, new data shared with Sky News illustrates the impact of the conflict.

The Centre for Information Resilience has verified more than 400 videos showing 300 separate incidents of harm to civilians and damage to infrastructure in Lebanon.

It offers a window into the extent of the destruction since fighting began in October last year.

This research is part of a larger set of open-source data showing harm to civilians and damage to infrastructure collected by CIR on and since 7 October last year, covering Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, as well as Lebanon.

As of 25 November, fighting had displaced more than 899,000 people in Lebanon and killed nearly 4,000 people, according to the International Organisation for Migration, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Lebanese health ministry.

The number of deaths - mostly recorded since September, when Israel ramped up attacks against Hezbollah members in Beirut - does not distinguish between civilians and Hezbollah fighters.

Across Lebanon, the cost of physical damages and economic loss due to the conflict is estimated at $8.5bn, according to a World Bank report published on 14 November. Almost 100,000 housing units have been damaged or fully destroyed.

Across the border in northern Israel, more than 60,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, and 80 soldiers and 50 civilians have been killed in Hezbollah attacks, according to Israeli officials.

The Institute for the Study of War has recorded attacks by Hezbollah and Israel between 7 October 2023 and 26 November, the day before the ceasefire.

Since the ceasefire was announced, thousands of those displaced have started streaming back to deserted neighbourhoods in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military warned displaced Lebanese against moving south towards previously evacuated villages.

"We inform you that starting from 5pm until tomorrow morning at 7am it is absolutely forbidden to travel south of the Litani river," said Avichay Adraee, the IDF's Arabic spokesperson.

"Whoever is north of the Litani river is prohibited from moving south. Whoever is south of the Litani river must remain where he is," the statement added.

The warning was published on X just minutes before the curfew was due to come into force.

Some residents had already made the journey.

In footage verified by Sky News, a resident returned to Kfarchouba, right on the border with Israel, which appears to have been reduced to rubble.

Further south, in Bint Jbeil, people returning home filmed from their car windows, showing destroyed buildings and empty streets. In most cases, residents are not coming back to the same places they left.

While the ceasefire brings an end to over a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, there is concern over whether the deal will hold.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

(c) Sky News 2024: New data reveals impact of war on civilians in Lebanon