The flight from southern Lebanon has been swift

After almost a year of waiting for war, the exodus from south Lebanon came in a dramatic instant. Tens of thousands of Lebanese grabbed whatever and whoever they could and squeezed ten or more to a car to travel north, fleeing Israeli air strikes. The coastal highway was rammed. Aid agencies say over 200,000 Lebanese have been displaced since October 8th.

In a government shelter in Hamra, in west Beirut, groups of women in black headscarves wept as soldiers from the Lebanese army stood guard outside. Umm Rania came from a village close to Nabatieh, in the south. She spent ten hours in the car with her wounded granddaughter. “She had shrapnel [from an air strike] in her leg. The hospitals in the south were full so we wanted to bring her to Beirut. We cried until we were too tired to cry; now we are exhausted.”

Some went to stay with relatives in Beirut. Others checked into cheap hotels or bedded down in schools and municipal buildings requisitioned by the government. Still more found themselves on the streets. Some were welcomed by their countrymen, who offered them somewhere to stay. The Israeli offensive has led to some glimmers of solidarity in a country riven by political and sectarian divisions, though some have also taken advantage of it to make money from their desperate compatriots. None of those who had fled from their homes had any idea when they might return.

Since the pager attack many in Lebanon are shocked at just how deeply Israel has infiltrated Hizbullah. Foreigners are increasingly suspect. Journalists have been thrown out of hospitals while reporting and beaten up while trying to interview people in the aftermath of missile strikes. The interior ministry said it was keeping a much closer eye on foreign nationals in the country; anyone could be a spy.

Complacency that Israel did not have the appetite for all-out war with Hizbullah has been replaced by fear that things are almost certain to get worse. And with little support coming from outsiders, the Lebanese feel very much alone. ■

Sign up to the Middle East Dispatch, a weekly newsletter that keeps you in the loop on a fascinating, complex and consequential part of the world.