People walk past tents sheltering people displaced by Israeli airstrikes at a public space along the Beirut waterfront at sunset in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
The leaders of five Western countries have urged that a large-scale Israeli ground operation in Lebanon "must be averted,” as more than 1 million people have been displaced across the country.
"A significant Israeli ground offensive would have devastating humanitarian consequences and could lead to a protracted conflict," said the joint statement from the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom.
The statement said that the leaders were "gravely concerned by the escalating violence in Lebanon" and called for "meaningful engagement by Israeli and Lebanese representatives to negotiate a sustainable political solution.”
Earlier on March 16, Israel's military launched "limited" ground operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
The leaders' statement said that "the humanitarian situation in Lebanon, including ongoing mass displacement, is already deeply alarming.”
"We condemn Hezbollah's decision to join Iran in hostilities," the statement said, adding
"We stand in solidarity with the Lebanese government and people, who have been unwillingly drawn into conflict."
In a separate statement, Türkiye also condemned Israel's ground operation in Lebanon, cautioning against "another humanitarian catastrophe" unfolding in the Middle East.
Early March 17 morning Israeli aircraft bombed two neighborhoods of Beirut's southern suburbs and also struck Doha Aramoun, south of the capital, wounding an Ethiopian woman.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war on March 2 when pro-Iran Hezbollah launched rockets towards Israel in response to U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Israel has responded with intense strikes in multiple Lebanese regions and some ground operations in the south.
Israeli strikes have killed 886 people, including 67 women and 111 children, since March 2.
At the same time, the Israeli military renewed its call for residents to evacuate a region stretching more than 40 kilometers from the Lebanon-Israel border.
Around 14 percent of Lebanese territory is under Israeli evacuation warnings, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Lebanese authorities said more than 1 million people had registered as displaced since March 2, more than a sixth of the country's population, with more than 130,000 people staying in upwards of 600 official shelters.
These displaced people "will not return to their homes" in the south as long as the security of residents in northern Israel is not guaranteed, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said this week.
In the southern city of Sidon, far from the border, displaced people were sleeping in their cars parked along the seafront corniche, according to an AFP team on the ground.
"Saida is full, we have no more capacity,” said Jihan Kaisi, the director of an NGO that runs a school-turned-shelter, where more than 1,100 people are crammed together.
