Regional Crisis Briefing | March 21, 2026
LEBANON
Occupation, Displacement, and Civilian Harm
What Israeli and U.S. officials are calling military operations in Lebanon is, by any practical measure, an expanding occupation. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz has warned that displaced Lebanese will not be allowed to return until Israeli border security is guaranteed, language that mirrors conditions Israel imposed in Gaza. The IDF's 91st Brigade has begun expanding its "forward defense zone" in southern Lebanon, and prominent Israeli political figures are backing plans to extend Israel's borders all the way to Lebanon's Litani River.
The scale of harm is staggering. More than 1,000 people have been killed since March 2, with over one million people displaced, among them roughly 350,000 children. Israeli attacks are killing or wounding 30 children every single day. This comes after the UN and Lebanese government counted more than 15,000 Israeli ceasefire violations since the November 2024 ceasefire took effect, violations that left hundreds dead before this latest escalation.
Daily airstrikes on Beirut are now a documented pattern. A strike on Wednesday killed at least 10 people and destroyed a 10-story residential building near the city center. The UN's human rights office has confirmed that Israeli strikes have repeatedly destroyed entire residential buildings in dense urban areas, with multiple members of the same family, including women and children, killed together.
Medical workers are being targeted. The WHO confirmed 12 medics were killed in a single attack in Burj Qalaouiyah, with 14 health workers killed across southern Lebanon in one 24-hour window. At least 40 medical workers have been killed since March 2. Israeli warplanes have also destroyed bridges over the Litani River, severing southern Lebanon from the rest of the country and trapping civilians in an active war zone.
Psychological warfare is layered on top. On March 13, Israel dropped leaflets over Beirut urging residents to report intelligence via QR codes, featuring a mock newspaper headlined "The New Reality" and explicitly referencing what it called "resounding success" in Gaza. Hotels housing displaced families have been struck by drone attacks. The city of Nabatieh, home to roughly 90,000 people, has been emptied and turned into a ghost town.
The environmental and agricultural damage is severe and long-lasting. Prior to the March 2 escalation, Israel was already burning farmland, bulldozing olive trees, and deploying white phosphorus across southern Lebanon, a substance that remains in soil long after conflict ends. The UN FAO estimates farmers in the south and Beqaa sustained $704 million in agricultural damages between October 2023 and November 2024. The World Bank estimates Lebanon will need approximately $11 billion to rebuild, nearly three times the cost of the 2006 war, and the destruction today is far greater.
Palestinian refugees and migrant workers are among the most vulnerable people in the displacement crisis, with no safety net and no path forward. Food insecurity is worsening: inflation has already surpassed Lebanon's entire annual food inflation rate from last year, driven by disrupted supply chains and rising fuel costs tied to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
The United States is also reportedly encouraging Syria to send forces into eastern Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, a move analysts warn could inflame sectarian tensions in both countries.
THE WEST BANK:
Closure, Settler Violence, and Systemic Erasure
Since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began, Israel has imposed a total military closure on the occupied West Bank. All checkpoints are shut, roads between cities blocked, and settlers are being given army cover to intensify raids on Palestinian villages. An 88-year-old patient's emergency evacuation was refused by the army. Where ambulances couldn't reach the wounded, people bled without care.
Four Palestinians were killed in separate West Bank villages this past weekend. In Duma, settlers opened fire and killed brothers Muhammad and Fahim Muammar. Ambulances were blocked for over an hour. In the northern Jordan Valley, settlers raided a residential compound on March 12, tying up roughly 10 adults and 7 children and sexually assaulting one of the residents. Four Palestinians and two international activists required hospitalization.
Amid all of this, the Israeli military dropped charges against five soldiers accused of beating and sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee, an assault partially caught on camera. Sari Bashi, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, said the dismissal "gave soldiers license to rape, so long as the victim is Palestinian."
The likely next Prime Minister of Israel, Naftali Bennett, is openly inciting against Bedouin Palestinian communities in the Negev, warning of another "October 7" if they are not controlled. These are among the most marginalized communities in Palestine, living in villages the Israeli state refuses to recognize, and therefore refuses to provide shelters, electricity, or running water.
That inequality became lethal during Iran's missile attacks. A 2018 Israeli State Comptroller report found that 46% of Arab citizens in Israel lack access to adequate shelters, compared to 26% of the general population. Over 130,000 Bedouin people remain entirely without protection. Four Palestinian women were killed when a munition or debris from an Iranian missile struck a hair salon in the occupied West Bank, communities with no protection from either side of this war.
During Eid al-Fitr, Israel barred Palestinian Muslims from praying at Al-Aqsa Mosque for the first time since 1967, using stun grenades and tear gas against worshippers and forcibly removing anyone who attempted to pray in the streets outside.
IRAN:
Environmental Catastrophe and Long-Term Harm
The U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iranian oil infrastructure has created an environmental crisis with consequences that will outlast the conflict. Residents of Tehran are now living under a compounding layer of air contamination from explosive residue and burning fuel depots. Scientists warn that acid rain from the strikes is depositing chemical particles into soil and water supplies in ways that could enter the food chain for years, a long-term harm for Iranian civilians that has received almost no coverage.
Since before the war with Iran began, Israel has imposed strict censorship on local and international media operating inside the country. Now, Journalists covering Lebanon have been injured in Israeli strikes.
It is also worth noting for historical context: Israel provided weapons to Iran during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. The current framing of Iran as an irredeemable adversary exists within a much more complicated history.
As for who is fueling Israel's military capacity: a new report tracking over 21 million tonnes of crude oil delivered to Israel between November 2023 and October 2025 identifies Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and the United States among the largest suppliers, including jet fuel used by military aircraft.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE:
What Other Countries Are Doing
The international community is shifting. Spain permanently withdrew its ambassador to Israel this month in opposition to the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. Germany has stepped back from its earlier pledge to support Israel at the International Court of Justice in the Gaza genocide case, a significant reversal from its 2023 position. Israel has also struck UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, wounding two UNIFIL personnel from Ghana.
In Congress, Senators led by Bernie Sanders have introduced a joint resolution of disapproval targeting U.S. weapons sales to Israel. This is one of the most direct legislative tools available right now.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Join the No Kings Rally on March 28. JVP Portland will have a contingent. Come stand with your constituents in the streets. Learn more: tinyurl.com/JVPxNoKings
Support the joint resolution of disapproval. Co-sponsor it. Vote yes: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/03/19/congress/bernie-sanders-israel-disapproval-votes-weapons-sales-iran-war-00835517
Champion and support H.R. 7565, the Food for Palestinian Children and Families in Gaza Act. Introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters, this bill requires the State Department to certify that policies are in place to ensure all children in Gaza receive at least three nutritious meals a day, and all other civilians at least two.
