Beirut, Lebanon - One hundred and sixty bombs in ten minutes. That is how Israel ushered in ‘Operation Eternal Darkness’ - the bloodiest day of the war in Lebanon - with devastating attacks across the country that overwhelmed hospitals with casualties and left many trapped under the rubble of their collapsed homes.
At around 2pm on Wednesday, the capital was rocked by explosions, shattering early hopes that Lebanon might be included in the US-Iran ceasefire . Grey fists of smoke rose above the city to the wail of sirens.
And with several strikes hitting areas of central Beirut not associated with Hezbollah , there was terror in the streets and the sense that nowhere was safe.
Israel’s military claimed it was targeting Hezbollah sites and commanders, but within minutes, Beirut’s residents were sharing images of children rescued from under the rubble so they could be identified by their families. President Joseph Aoun called the attacks a “massacre”, with at least 203 killed and more than 1,000 wounded.
But after the attacks came a warning, issued on social media to “the people of Lebanon.” The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee claimed, without evidence, that Hezbollah members had moved into central, non-Shia neighbourhoods of Beirut.
He threatened that more destruction would follow. “Do not allow this to happen,” he announced.
For many Lebanese, however, a different message was made clear: this was the latest attempt by Israel to incite sectarian strife , by pitting Sunni and Christian communities against Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim group.
“Many people believe that if the Israelis cannot achieve their objectives in Lebanon, their plan B would be to destabilise Lebanon internally, so as to occupy Hezbollah in a domestic dispute and, in that way, relieve the pressure on them,” Michael Young, a senior editor at the Carnegie Endowment's Middle East Center in Beirut, told The New Arab . This renewed war in Lebanon is once again raising the spectre of Lebanon’s civil war. Israel has displaced over one million people - mostly Shia from south Lebanon, some of whom have sought refuge in predominantly Christian and Sunni parts of the country. There are fears that a prolonged humanitarian crisis could exacerbate social tensions.
In some Christian and Druze towns near the front line in south Lebanon, Israel has pressed local leaders to expel Shia Muslims and refuse them sanctuary. In Christian towns like Marjayoun, citizen patrols have set up checkpoints and are refusing entry to those they deem suspicious, mostly out of fear that their own towns will be bombed .
These demands are putting pressure on the fragile coexistence between Shia and Christian communities in the south.
The most febrile situations have arisen after Israel has bombed non-Shia areas where it claimed Hezbollah members were living or operating . During the last war in 2024, a series of Israeli strikes on Sunni and Christian areas where Shia families were sheltering created an environment of fear and mistrust towards the displaced. This latest war has seen several such cases.
On Sunday, an Israeli strike on a residential area of Ain Saadeh, east of Beirut, killed Pierre Mouawad , his wife Flavia and another woman. Mouawad was an official in the Lebanese Forces, a right-wing Christian party strongly opposed to Hezbollah.
Rumours that a Hezbollah member had rented the floor above Mouawad's flat quickly spread, whipping up anger among neighbours. Others said they had seen a suspicious man fleeing the scene on a motorbike. "We opened our homes to them... and in the end they came among us to harm us," Mouawad’s sister, Raymonda, told AFP at the funeral. She was referring to the displaced Shia.
Lebanon’s army said after an investigation that there were “no new tenants” in the targeted building, and that the man fleeing was in fact a delivery driver. But this did little to ease suspicions.
Historically, Israel armed Christian militias in Lebanon during the civil war to support its fight against the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Few in Lebanon have forgotten that this alliance resulted in the Sabra and Shatila massacre of mostly Palestinian civilians and Lebanese Shia in 1982.
The assumption among many is that similar tactics - favouring one sect to defeat the group belonging to another - might be at play.
Others are more circumspect. While there is an underlying fear of civil war, re-opening that ruinous 15-year chapter of Lebanon’s history would require a level of armed mobilisation that makes this prospect unlikely.
“I think there are already lots of tensions,” Young said. “But I don't think most communities in Lebanon are A, prepared for that [civil war], or B, want to engage in that. We should be very careful, I think, before making such an assumption.”
Analysts say that Israel’s main goal is to expand its buffer zone in south Lebanon to keep Hezbollah anti-tank missiles farther away and give a sense of security to the residents of northern Israel. Social tensions might therefore be the consequence, but not necessarily the aim, of Israel’s military actions.
“Whether or not Israel intends to, it definitely must be aware that it's causing major rifts and chaos in a country that has a history of civil war and a history of Israeli occupation,” Mairav Zonszein, the senior Israel analyst at the International Crisis Group, told The New Arab .
Zonszein contrasted the situation in Lebanon to that in Iran and Syria, where she said it was more plausible that Israel wanted to “sow chaos and government collapse”.
“Now Lebanon has a government that is interested in reining in Hezbollah as much as possible,” she said. “So I don't think it would be in Israel's interests now to undermine that, even though Israel doesn't have a lot of faith or trust in the Lebanese government or the armed forces.”
Amid the concerns that Lebanon’s social fabric might unravel, there have been examples of intercommunal solidarity that suggest otherwise.
Throughout this war, volunteers have distributed countless meals, built shelters and opened their homes to the displaced. After Wednesday’s attacks, many rushed to donate blood, as they had done during the last war.
Lebanon has declared Thursday a national day of mourning, a moment for a grieving nation to come together, while holding on to a fragile hope that the violence will soon come to an end. Alex Martin Astley is a freelance journalist based in Beirut, covering conflict, foreign policy, and social justice issues Follow him on X: @AlexMAstley Edited by Charlie Hoyle