Caritas members supporting communities in Lebanon
A major crisis is unfolding across the Middle East, with families forced to flee in search of safety. In Lebanon, people are leaving their homes after strikes in the south, Bekaa and southern suburbs of the capital, Beirut.
Your support is helping families survive. You stand alongside families and communities in Lebanon as the Pope continues to call for peace. Here is the latest update and how your donations are helping families in need.
How is the conflict in the Middle East affecting Lebanon?
On 28 February the United States and Israel began a major military operation against Iran, which has since escalated into conflict across the region. The conflict is having a devastating impact across the Middle East, destroying homes, schools and lives.
In Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, and in the south, fear has spread as families try to flee to safety while the Israel Defense Forces carry out airstrikes or issue evacuation orders. This follows rockets launched towards northern Israel by Hezbollah. As a result, Israel launched waves of airstrikes across various regions in Lebanon.
For families in Lebanon, lives have been shattered. Schools and universities have been forced to close. Hospitals are overwhelmed with people injured in the bombings. Since the new wave of strikes began, more than 100 people have been killed and more than 100,000 people have fled their homes.
Sadly, Lebanon was already facing severe hardship. Years of economic collapse have made it difficult for families to find stable work or security. Many who had already been forced from their homes by earlier conflicts now find themselves forced to move once again. Some people have not been able to return home since 2024.
Ready-to-eat meals being distributed to families in Lebanon
How you can help
Your steadfast support means that we’ve been able to send £150,000 to our trusted local partners. They are already in the communities that need help, working tirelessly to provide life-saving food, safe water, shelter, and essential items like blankets and mattresses.
But as the crisis gets worse, further help is needed. When families flee their homes in search of safety, they are often forced to leave everything behind. Our local Church partner is running a mobile clinic, providing urgent healthcare at a time when hospitals are overwhelmed with people injured in the violence.
Please consider a gift today so that our local experts can continue to help families in Lebanon and our neighbours facing emergencies around the world.
What has Pope Leo XIV said about the conflict in the Middle East?
The Catholic Church is standing alongside families caught in the heart of this conflict. Pope Leo XIV has made a powerful appeal for stability and peace. Speaking directly to all those involved, on 1 March Pope Leo said:
“Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of immense proportions, I make a heartfelt appeal to all the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility of halting the spiral of violence before it becomes an unbridgeable chasm.
“May diplomacy regain its proper role, and may the well-being of peoples, who yearn for peaceful existence founded on justice, be upheld. And let us continue to pray for peace.”
A better world needs all of us. When we act together, we can help families in devastating emergencies.
Sadly, it is families simply trying to live in peace who are suffering in this conflict. Inspired by Pope Leo’s words, we continue to stand alongside these families, providing life-saving help and living out our Catholic values of loving our neighbour.
I make a heartfelt appeal to all the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility of halting the spiral of violence before it becomes an unbridgeable chasm
