More civilians in Lebanon displaced and in dire need amid Israel's battle with Hezbollah

Thousands upon thousands of Lebanese are fleeing Israeli bombing across southern and central Lebanon as Hezbollah continues its rocket and missile fire into northern Israel. As fears of all-out regional war mount, special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen sits down with the Lebanese official managing the humanitarian response in a country that was already on its knees before this latest conflict.

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Amna Nawaz: Thousands upon thousands of Lebanese are fleeing Israeli bombing across Southern and Central Lebanon, as Hezbollah continues its rocket and missile fire into northern Israel.

As fears of an all-out regional war mount, special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen sits down with the Lebanese official managing the humanitarian response in a country that was already on its knees before this latest conflict.

Leila Molana-Allen: Earlier today, 90 Hezbollah missiles were launched across Lebanon’s border into Israel after what many here saw as a bold provocation yesterday, IDF soldiers planting an Israeli flag in Lebanese territory on the southern border. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a warning to the Lebanese people.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister: You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza.

Leila Molana-Allen: In the south, the IDF continued its campaign by air, land and sea, laying waste to Lebanese farming villages and hundreds of homes, and as the sun sets in the capital, Beirut, fresh waves of airstrikes.

This has become the new normal for Beirut’s skyline at night. A large strike has just come in behind us in the southern suburbs, a ball of red fire and then black smoke spreading across the sky.

These strikes come in now every hour overnight, bringing down huge high-rise buildings and decimating this part of the city.

As the death toll in Lebanon passes 2,100, with more than 10,000 wounded, the “News Hour” sat down with the man heading the crisis response, Lebanese Health Minister Dr. Firass Abiad one of the few politicians in the country respected almost universally for his clean record and bipartisan attitude, who accused Israel’s military of targeting civilians.

Dr. Firass Abiad, Lebanese Public Health Minister: It’s the definition of carnage. We have been in previous wars, but we have never seen this level of indiscriminate attacks on civilians, the whole residential buildings collapsing, completely killing everyone who is in that building.

How can we have excellent intelligence, knowing exactly who we’re targeting, but at the same time claim that we don’t know that there are civilians and that these were unfortunate collateral damage? The only logical explanation is that we know exactly what we’re doing, but we don’t care.

Leila Molana-Allen: Israel says that it is targeting Hezbollah operatives and leadership, and they have been able to eliminate a large number of Hezbollah commanders and weapons depots in these strikes.

So does Hezbollah not have a responsibility to remove civilians from those areas or remove themselves and their weapons from areas where civilians are living?

Dr. Firass Abiad: Look, if you go back to the international humanitarian law, proportionality means that if, for example, you have a high-level target, let’s say a terrorist on an airplane, you cannot say that I’m going to blow up the whole airplane to be able to reach that terrorist.

And even if you want to consider that it’s extremely irresponsible of that terrorist to be on that plane, it doesn’t absolve you from the responsibility. And that’s why whether it considers that everyone in Lebanon is Hezbollah, which is not true. The Lebanese, there are a lot of people in Lebanon who are not Hezbollah or who are actually opposed to Hezbollah.

Leila Molana-Allen: The United States has just pledged another $8.7 billion to Israeli military aid, and the United States is also one of the main funders of aid in Lebanon. So we could end up in a situation where U.S.-funded bombs are destroying infrastructure in Lebanon that is then being paid for by U.S. aid to be rebuilt in the country.

What do you want the international community to do now to help Lebanon?

Dr. Firass Abiad: A country like the U.S., which is a major backer of Israel, whether it is with unconditional financial support, diplomatic support, weapons, of course, has sway.

The question is whether it wants to exert that pressure. And up until now, we haven’t seen anything to suggest that the United States is willing to exert the required pressure on Israel. The international community, more than sending aid, if they could just stop dropping the bombs, I think that will be helpful.

Leila Molana-Allen: What do you fear could be coming next in this conflict?

Dr. Firass Abiad: Lebanon, in my opinion, is really at an existential juncture in its history. I think that, for me as Lebanese who have lived through all of the past crisis, including the civil war, the ’82 invasion, to me, this is the moment in time where I really fear for the future of Lebanon, or at least for the future of the Lebanon that I know and I love.

Will Lebanon truly embody what people say about them, as the phoenix that rises among the ashes? I don’t know. I know that we have the fire. We have the ashes. But whether we will be able to rise from this or whether this will prove to be really a bridge too far for us, oh, it’s to be seen.

Leila Molana-Allen: Across Lebanon tonight, more fire and more ashes.

For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Leila Molana-Allen in Beirut.