Inside Lebanon: Strikes, displacement and Israeli troops

More than a million people in Lebanon have been displaced and over 900 killed as Israel intensifies its offensive against the militant group Hezbollah.

Israel says those displaced from southern Lebanon will not be allowed back to their homes until the IDF has dismantled Hezbollah's infrastructure in the region.

The latest round of violence erupted on 2 March when the group launched missiles into northern Israel in support of its ally, Iran, which had come under US-Israeli attack four days earlier.

Israel responded with full force, launching hundreds of strikes across Lebanon, mostly concentrated in southern Lebanon.

But there have also been many strikes on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, including the southern suburb of Dahiya - a Hezbollah stronghold, but also densely packed with civilian residents.

These strikes have coincided with a sweeping evacuation order covering almost half of the capital.

And in southern Lebanon, the IDF has ordered the evacuation of everyone living south of the Zahrani river - the largest evacuation order issued by the Israeli military in recent history.

Sky News estimates that the area covered by the evacuation orders was previously home to two million people - or a third of Lebanon's population.

At least two bridges across the Litani river have been destroyed in recent weeks, despite the need for civilians to cross it to comply with the IDF's evacuation orders.

On 18 March, the IDF announced that it would begin striking the remaining bridges, which it alleged were being used by Hezbollah to transport soldiers and combat equipment.

"The orders have come with terrifying force, and there is panic," says international human rights lawyer Geoffrey Nice KC.

"The panic is your responsibility if you're the one that's ordering them to leave."

"It seems to me there's quite a lot of evidence to say this is unlawful," he adds.

"We are following international law and doing everything we can to avoid harm to civilians," an IDF official told Sky News.

Israel may be planning to stay

Israeli defence secretary Israel Katz said on 18 March that those fleeing southern Lebanon will not be allowed to return to the area south of the Litani river "until the safety of the residents of the north [of Israel] is guaranteed".

Under a 2006 UN resolution, the only armed groups allowed to operate south of the Litani river are the Lebanese armed forces and UN peacekeepers.

Israel says that by removing Hezbollah from this region, it is seeking to enforce the UN resolution.

Last year, Mr Katz said Israel would also maintain a "security zone" inside Lebanon for the foreseeable future.

Since 2024, the IDF has maintained at least five bases on the Lebanese territory.

Candice Ardiel, spokesperson for the UN's peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL), told Sky News that the existence of these bases is a "clear violation" of the 2006 resolution.

An IDF official told Sky News that "Israel kept to that agreement until Hezbollah started attacking our civilians".

Satellite imagery shared with Sky News by the London-based Centre for Information Resilience suggests three additional bases may have been constructed in recent months.

Mr Katz has said that the IDF's goal in the current war is to "take control of additional strategic positions in Lebanon".

In early March, the country's opposition leader, Yair Lapid, called for this expanded security zone to be "an area with no Lebanese villages in it".

"It might be unaesthetic perhaps, or unpleasant, to scrape away two or three Lebanese villages, but they brought it upon themselves," he told i24 News.

Many are experiencing displacement for the second time

When Sky News visited Beirut on 12 March, our team found people sleeping in tents and cars near the port.

"People are leaving very fast when evacuation orders are announced," says Carolina Lindholm Billing, Lebanon representative for the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR).

"They just get in their car without even collecting some extra clothes or belongings, out of fear of being there when aerial strikes begin. And one reason, many say, is that they experienced the same in 2024."

Before the latest round of hostilities, more than 64,000 people were still displaced from the last major escalation in 2024, according to the International Migration Observatory.

Despite a ceasefire signed in November 2024, many have been unable to return to their homes due to frequent Israeli strikes.

Others have had no homes to return to, with some border towns like Aita Al Chaab almost destroyed.

The video below, shared on 17 March, shows the IDF demolishing several houses in the town, much of which is already in ruins.

Satellite imagery taken in November shows that 91% of buildings in the town centre had already been destroyed by that point.

An Israeli military official acknowledged to Sky News that the IDF was responsible for widespread destruction in the area, but insisted it only targeted buildings used by Hezbollah.

When Sky visited Aita Al Chaab in December, the few remaining residents told us they wanted to rebuild - but IDF strikes on construction equipment made it impossible.

Human Rights Watch, a US-based international rights group, described the strikes on reconstruction equipment as "systematic".

"They don't allow anyone who's building or wants to settle back in Aita Al Chaab," said cafe owner Nehmeh Mahmoud Al Zein.

"If you have a problem with Hezbollah, go sort it with Hezbollah. It's not our problem - we're civilians here and we've got nothing to hide."

The scale of the depopulation along the border can be seen from space, with a marked decrease in light levels visible in night-time satellite imagery.

The map below shows the change, with decreases highlighted in red. Right along the border with Israel, the lights in Lebanese towns have dimmed.

Concerns about the use of white phosphorus

Since October 2023, Sky News has interviewed dozens of residents of southern Lebanon who say they have seen white phosphorus being sprayed on their crops, farmland and houses.

The video below, first shared on 15 March and verified by Sky News, shows an IDF operation in southern Lebanon.

Amael Kotlarsk, a weapons expert at defence intelligence company Janes, told Sky News that the substance is white phosphorus.

The chemical is used by militaries to create smokescreens or for illumination, as above, but can also start fires, damage crops and cause severe burns.

Its indiscriminate use in populated areas is illegal under international law.

The photograph below, verified by Sky News, shows a white cloud enveloping buildings in the town of Yohmor on 3 March. Human Rights Watch says it has confirmed that the substance is white phosphorus.

Human Rights Watch previously documented widespread use of white phosphorus by the IDF in Lebanese border towns in late 2023 and early 2024.

When asked by Sky News, the IDF did not deny using white phosphorus during recent operations in Lebanon but said it always does so in a way that "complies with and exceeds the requirements of international law".

Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, tells Sky News the use of white phosphorus in populated areas risks damage to homes and agricultural lands.

"I think the use of white phosphorus now is another tactic that is pushing people out of those towns or making it much harder for them to return," he says.

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 2026: Inside Lebanon: Strikes, displacement and Israeli troops