Beyond survival: Helping children and adults cope with the traumas of war in Lebanon

“My daughter is only 14, but with all the difficulties we’ve faced, she’s reacting like an adult to the bombings,” says Ezdihar, a displaced mother in Lebanon. “She’s had to grow up quickly.”

On the night of 28 September, Ezdihar and her family were having dinner at home in the southern suburbs of Beirut when they received an alert about an imminent strike by Israeli forces. While her husband went to care for his mother, Ezdihar took her children and, with neighbours, sought refuge in central Beirut.

After spending a night on the streets, they moved into the Azarieh shelter, a repurposed commercial building now housing around 3,500 displaced people. Today, they are among 1.2 million people displaced by the war between Hezbollah and Israel, according to Lebanese authorities.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is attending to the medical and mental health needs of people living in collective shelters like Azarieh, including children like Ezdihar’s daughter. She is one of a generation navigating a landscape of fear and uncertainty, in which children are hit the hardest. 

The mental health impacts of war and displacement

In less than a month since the escalation of war, more than 2,300 people have been killed in Lebanon, with the majority of deaths occurring in the last 3 weeks. More than 11,100 have been injured, according to health authorities.

The violence and destruction people are witnessing can have lasting impacts on psychological and emotional well-being, especially for children. Like Ezdihar’s daughter, countless children across Lebanon have had to grow up quickly under the harsh realities of war, including being uprooted from their homes, having their schooling disrupted, being separated from their friends, and losing access to basic necessities like food and shelter.