In Lebanon The Story Of Survival And Strategy As Funerals Are Held During The 10 Days Ceasefire.

Beirut; April 2026: As the Lebanese government prepares for talks with Israeli officials later this week, civilians across the country are counting the cost of devastating Israeli strikes that have killed hundreds of people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes.

Wael Sabbagh’s mother and brother were killed in an Israeli attack on their family home in Beirut on April 18. They were among about 12 people killed in the Israeli strike on the building, in which Sabbagh’s family had lived since 1976. The Israeli attacks on that day killed nearly 400 people across Lebanon in just 10 minutes, and happened hours after the US and Iran announced a ceasefire.

“Why were they killed?” Sabbagh asked. “Nothing exists here now; neighbours those who have dwelled for 50 years together in the same building, are existenceless. There is no future target left in this building”. He teared up talking about the violent deaths. “To think how they went, everyone grieves their death. I don’t think the pain would be any less if they died any other way, but to think of the violence and to try to construct the last moments”, Sabbagh said. He said everyone in Lebanon was grieving. “Everybody has a story of survival or tragedy, and that, on its own, is very hard to grasp”.

Mourners across Lebanon are burying victims of the war with Israel during a 10-day ceasefire. In Beirut, crowds carried the bodies of Hezbollah fighters, while in Tyre, families gathered at temporary graves for civilians killed in strikes just before the truce.

Survivors in Lebanon’s Bekaa mourn victims of Israeli attacks, assess damage; on the outskirts of the town of Sohmar, Ali Rida was digging through the rubble of his car workshop that was destroyed in an Israeli strike. He said he found the bodies of his landlord’s children who lived above his workshop had blasted into the street after the attack.

“The Israeli strike happened at 03:30 in the morning and there was absolutely no reason for it, but Israel’s known for this; they target civilians and, in some places, children”, Rida said. “Here a woman with her daughter and son were killed. Imagine, they were sitting at home thinking they were safe”.

Rida and his neighbours have further stated that the children’s father is in hospital, blinded by the blast and with both his legs broken by falling rubble. They say they do not know if he will survive.

Sohmor’s Mayor Iskandar Barake, said more than 140 houses have been damaged or destroyed. “Most of the people have returned, but they’re worried about the general situation, and all of them are waiting for the negotiations”, he said.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, while announcing the name of Simon Karam, a former US ambassador, as Lebanon’s representative in their negotiations with Israel, was very careful to point out that he was the only representative for Lebanon and that there would be no substitute. That is in reference to this attempt by Iran to tie Lebanon to the broader regional conflict. At one point, they were saying that there would be no agreement, no ceasefire between the US, Israel, and Iran, if there was not also a ceasefire here in Lebanon.

There are some people here in Lebanon, Hezbollah, notably, and their supporters, but others too, who thought that might have actually been a good idea, because they fear that the Lebanese government has very little leverage in negotiations with Israel. But there are many others, the President, the Prime Minister included, who see this attempt by Iran to tie the future of Lebanon, any peace, any ceasefire, however long it may last, as an assault on Lebanon’s sovereignty.

They resented the idea that Iran should be able to dictate what goes on here inside Lebanon. So, this is an attempt, in their eyes, to reassert Lebanese sovereignty. But it’s also a little bit of insurance that if things go wrong between the US, Israel, and Iran, if that breaks down, that war does not immediately start again here as well. That’s why he’s appointed this former ambassador, Simon Karam, who was the Lebanese ambassador to the US back in the 1990s, and has been practicing as a lawyer and in politics since then.

Team Maverick.