Lebanon Deserves More Than Silence

Lebanon is not a footnote. It is not a country that should be spoken about only when things collapse. It is a land of culture, history, and extraordinary people who have weathered one disaster after another, with little more than each other to lean on.

But right now, Lebanon has been pushed to the margins of the world’s conscience again. No major pledges. No headlines. No urgency. Just a slow fade into silence.

For communities across the country — from the bombed-out towns in the south and the southern suburbs of Beirut, to the still-recovering neighborhoods of Beirut, from the mountains where poverty runs deep, to Akkar, Tripoli, and the Bekaa that have been long forgotten, to the Palestinian and Syrian refugees in collapsing refugee camps — this silence is devastating. It means fewer resources, fewer lifelines, fewer chances to start again.

Yet, even in the silence, people haven’t given up. They haven’t forgotten hope. We shouldn’t forget them.
Lebanon’s descent into crisis didn’t begin with the Beirut port blast or the recent war. It began quietly, through collapsing institutions, a failing economy, and years of deferred solutions. What followed only deepened the scars exponentially.

In 2019, the financial system began to unravel, triggering one of the worst economic collapses in modern history. Families who had once made ends meet found themselves choosing between food, medicine, and electricity. Nearly 80% of the population now lives in poverty, according to the UN.

Then came August 4.

The Beirut port blast, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, left catastrophic physical damage in addition to emotional and societal damage that was harder to quantify. Today, parts of Beirut are physically rebuilt — but the trauma remains. Families still struggle to afford rent and food. Schools that were damaged are running on reduced capacity, often without electricity or basic supplies. We fixed the walls, but forgot the people inside them.

And just as the dust was beginning to settle, Lebanon was thrust into another crisis.

Since October 2023, after the war in Gaza spilled across borders, Lebanon has faced near-daily attacks. Over 96,000 people remain displaced. Dozens of towns and cities — mostly agricultural and working-class communities — have been damaged, destroyed, or emptied. For many, this is not the first displacement in their lifetime. For others, it’s a grim first.

The story isn’t new, but it has never felt this quiet.

Despite the magnitude of these overlapping crises, Lebanon barely makes international headlines. Aid flows are limited. Global attention is sparse. And reconstruction efforts are often piecemeal, inconsistent, and contingent on elusive regional political agreements, leaving already-marginalized communities, who’ve had no say in the conflict, to sink deeper into poverty and neglect. And yet again, the world watches in silence. It’s as though Lebanon has slipped off the global radar — too complicated to fix, too familiar to grieve.

People are exhausted. Not just from war or poverty, but from being forgotten. From waiting for a moment when someone, somewhere, decides Lebanon is worth investing in again. Not just its buildings. Its people. Its future.

Anera’s teams on the ground have responded with emergency food parcels, chronic medication deliveries, and infrastructure repairs. But the scale of destruction, the unpredictability of the conflict, and the lack of global attention make recovery feel distant.

What Lebanon is experiencing is more than a crisis. It is stagnation. A kind of suspended reality where life continues, but progress doesn’t. Where families rebuild again and again, with no guarantee that anything will change. And in the silence left by fading global attention, people are holding on; but the truth is, they’re drained and exhausted from doing so.

Anera continues to support communities across Lebanon, from distributing medical aid in hospitals, to providing school kits, to supporting municipalities, to educational programs, to solar panels installation, to rooftop garden installation, to helping vulnerable girls and refugee communities, to supporting farmers who’ve lost everything. But the needs are growing. And so is the fatigue.

Lebanon doesn’t need another wave of sympathy. It needs sustained solidarity, long-term investment, and recognition that behind the statistics are people—resilient, proud, and worthy of a future not defined by crisis.

The challenges in Lebanon are immense. But hope remains. Help us amplify their voices and provide critical assistance. Share their stories. Support Anera’s work.

Share & Support Lebanon Now.