In December 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that if Hezbollah were to “start an all-out war, then it will single-handedly turn Beirut and South Lebanon…into Gaza and Khan Yunis.” Against the backdrop of the war on Gaza, which many experts have stated amounts to genocide, Netanyahu’s statement was a stark warning for those living in Lebanon. The escalating armed conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has already inflicted significant damage in South Lebanon, killing over 97 civilians, displacing over 90,000 residents, destroying approximately 1,700 residential buildings and community infrastructure, and scorching agricultural land and green areas. At the same time, Lebanon’s residents have also found themselves facing a particularly different type of weapon: psychological warfare.
A non-lethal type of warfare, psychological warfare uses non-combat techniques to instill fear among the targeted community and alter perceptions of the enemy.
Recent developments in Lebanon have highlighted the intensity of this psychological battleground. The country has witnessed a surge in mock raids over the south, Israeli F-15 fighter jets patrolling the entirety of the Lebanese airspace, and Israeli drones ceaselessly buzzing over southern areas Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, all the way to Keserwan, northeast of Lebanon’s capital. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has also employed some psychological warfare tactics. In June, it released a video from a drone sent over the Israeli city of Haifa, capturing footage of strategic military and civilian sites, identified as “potential targets.”
Aerial threats
Lebanon is no stranger to psychological warfare. Over 22,000 Israeli military aircraft breached Lebanese airspace between 2007, shortly after the 2006 July War, and the end of 2022. These incursions covered not only areas over southern Lebanon, but reached further to Byblos, Beirut, and other northern areas.
In the past nine months, Israeli jets have increased their incursions, with their sounds heard almost daily across the country. They have also engaged in mock raids several times. In June, Israeli jets breached the sound barrier over areas in the south, Beirut’s suburbs, and along the coast. The roof of a house in the southern city of Nabatieh consequently collapsed and a mother and her son were injured and hospitalized.
The constant buzzing of unmanned Israeli drones over Lebanon’s southern areas serves as a constant reminder of persistent surveillance and the danger they pose
“We got used to [the jets]. Even at times of peace, we heard them. They are always there,” said 86-year-old Awsaf*, a resident of Nabatieh who has experienced multiple instances of Israeli aggression in her hometown.
The constant buzzing of unmanned Israeli drones over Lebanon’s southern areas serves as a constant reminder of persistent surveillance and the danger they pose. The ability of drones to loiter for extended periods in the Lebanese airspace and hit targets deep in the country creates a heightened sense of vulnerability, especially since they often kill civilians. On March 13, for instance, an Israeli drone strike targeting a Hamas member in the southern city of Tyre also killed a passerby.
Extensive armory
Furthermore, Lebanese security officials believe that civilians in South Lebanon have been receiving calls from Israel since the beginning of the war, allegedly to gather information and strategize for attacks. These callers, calling from a Lebanese number, have a seemingly Lebanese accent and mention various purposes behind their calls. They for instance claim they are conducting surveys, ask the people they are calling about their whereabouts or their families, or claim they are calling from a public service agency, or are distributing humanitarian aid.
Israeli aircraft have also dropped leaflets over South Lebanon. On December 15, in the first reported instance since the beginning of the war, in the town of Kfarshouba, Israeli leaflets warned civilians of Hezbollah activities in the region and the risk they posed civilians. Similarly, this March, Israeli leaflets released in the town of Wazzani informed locals that Hezbollah’s “members and weapon depots” in their “neighborhood” posed a major risk to their local security. This tactic is reminiscent of the 2006 July War, when Israeli leaflets warned civilians along the southern border that they were “being used as human shields by Hezbollah.”
Israel has also resorted to jamming Lebanon’s GPS navigation system. Typically used to jam drones and missiles that use GPS to hit their targets, this tactic also disrupts all navigation systems in the area.
Crucial tools for daily life in Lebanon have consequently been partially incapacitated. “I gave up on using Google Maps months ago. I just give people directions to the office on the phone now, it saves me a lot of irritation and disappointment,” said Malak*, a lawyer who has a firm in Nabatieh.
While this has mainly affected the residents of South Lebanon, more recently, it has been reported across different areas in the northern part of Lebanon including in Lebanon’s capital and Mzaar, an area in Mount Lebanon 45 kilometers north of Beirut. Not only causing local disruption, these tactics are also accompanied with the physical risks to civilians. In March, a Turkish Airlines flight encountered technical difficulties in its spoofed GPS system during its approach to Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport and was consequently forced to return to Turkey.
War of words
Beyond the material weapons, words have become a tool of warfare during times of conflict. Speeches by members of the Israeli government have been filled with dangerous threats relating to Lebanon since October 8. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Hezbollah in October 2023 by saying that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) will “cripple it with a force it cannot imagine” if the group decided to join the war. He added that the effects would be devastating for all of Lebanon as a consequence. Similarly, in January 2024, Israel’s Security Minister Ben Gvir urged the IDF to launch a wide-scale military campaign over Lebanon.
The same points made in such speeches are repeated in social media posts, where several Israeli politicians, journalists, or anonymous accounts have posted material calling for the destruction and invasion of Beirut. Edy Cohen, for example, an Israeli journalist and researcher, posted a video of Gaza’s destruction to his 700,000 followers on X with a caption in Hebrew which directly translates to: “Its name was Gaza, Beirut is next.”
In this high-stakes arena of rhetoric, Hezbollah’s leaders have also deployed similar tactics. Speeches and statements by the group’s leadership, in particular Hassan Nasrallah, are laden with innuendos of revenge and resistance that share the same goal of instilling fear. Nasrallah frequently uses expressions such as “the attack will not go unpunished” and threats including “beware of foolishness” to reaffirm Hezbollah’s projection as a powerful military force. At the same time, Hezbollah has recently started utilizing video footage to allude to their military targets in Israel, most notably in their Haifa drone footage released online in June.
Psychological warfare and international law
Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity have come into question amid Israel’s air incursions in recent months. The Convention on International Civil Aviation, the main body governing and establishing the rules of airspace and security, states that member states have full exclusive control over the airspace above their territories. Both Israel and Lebanon are signatories to the convention.
Hence, any unauthorized entry into airspace violates the law, unless the entering state has the host state’s consent. Although Israel may justify those actions by claiming that they are necessary for defense, an examination of Israel’s airspace violations before October 7, during times of relative peace, undermines this argument.
The common outcome of the onslaught of mock raids, sonic booms, loud buzzing, and the constant presence of fighter jets is instilling fear among Lebanon’s residents
The common outcome of the onslaught of mock raids, sonic booms, loud buzzing, and the constant presence of fighter jets is instilling fear among Lebanon’s residents. This is a violation of Article 51(2) of International Humanitarian Law under the International Armed Conflicts section, which forbids threats of violence that have a primary purpose of spreading terror within a civilian population.
Israel’s psychological combat also violates United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, established following the 2006 July War. The resolution calls for Israeli forces to retreat behind the Blue Line, a “withdrawal line” separating Lebanon and Northern Israeli settlements, and establishes a demilitarized zone. Hezbollah is concurrently required to withdraw its forces behind the Litani River.
Both Israel and Hezbollah have since undermined key tenets of Resolution 1701. Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati stated in February that Israel had violated Resolution 1701 35,000 times, with a significant number of those violations committed since the beginning of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah in October. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has also violated Resolution 1701 by maintaining a constant armed presence in the demilitarized zone since 2006. In doing so, the role of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon, the peace keeping force established to maintain the Blue Line, has also been undermined.
Psychological and physiological effects
Dr. Lara Sheehi, a psychoanalyst therapist and psychology professor, highlights the importance of understanding the condition under which Lebanon’s residents are currently experiencing psychological warfare.
“People in Lebanon are raised on the notion that the buzzing of drones, the sound barrier breaches, and the constant jet incursions into Lebanon are normal,” said Dr. Sheehi.
As such, residents of all ages have become accustomed to psychological warfare, including children who were born after the 2006 July War.
“My 11-year-old sister can now differentiate between the sounds of jets and drones. She can even tell how far away they are from home. The fear accompanying these sounds has become normalized to her,” said Nour Sleiman, a 29-year-old journalist from Tyre, which has been subject to multiple mock raids over the past few months.
Although the sight and sound of these aircraft have become an “ordinary” part of Lebanese daily life, citizens live against the backdrop of their country being susceptible to airstrikes at any moment.
Although the sight and sound of these aircraft have become an “ordinary” part of Lebanese daily life, citizens live against the backdrop of their country being susceptible to airstrikes at any moment
“The main point behind psychological warfare is the show of power: telling citizens that ‘at any moment, we can attack you.’ As such, people in Lebanon live under a constant, normalized condition of hyperstimulation and anxiety, subconsciously waiting for something to happen at any given moment,” Dr. Sheehi pointed out.
She also explained that the understanding of psychological warfare within the framework of mainstream psychology does not apply in this case: “People living in Lebanon do not suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), since they are still living under the threat of an attack at any given time. This means that a mainstream approach to their fears does not hold, as it may give the illusion that they have overcome the ‘trauma’ or the possibility of an attack.”
Another underestimated aspect of the constant buzzing of Israeli drones and jets is the associated physical effects. The loud buzzing causes many to experience headaches, insomnia, and more.
“[The sounds] are very annoying and give me headaches. People do not understand how it feels to hear buzzing when you go to sleep and when you wake up,” Awsaf told TIMEP.
All this has been compounded by a state of constant heightened anxiety arising from recurrent threats from Israeli officials, whether explicit or implicit, that contribute to the sense of uncertainty among residents as military aggression may be at their doorstep at any day.
Limits of Lebanese resilience
The current war in South Lebanon shines a light on the underreported psychological dimension of modern warfare. As lives are lost and entire neighborhoods are destroyed, residents are constantly reminded of the precarious security situation they live in, be it by Israeli war jets flying above their heads, the constant buzzing of drones, mock raids throughout the day, or the threatening rhetoric through official Israeli channels and social media accounts.
As the race for a diplomatic solution hastens, the international community has repeatedly urged restraint and “calm” amongst actors on the Lebanese-Israeli border. However, a crucial aspect of achieving such de-escalation is to concurrently condemn the intensifying psychological warfare deployed. Civilians are forced to live in a permanent state of fear of sudden escalation, while daily life is perpetually disrupted. It is, therefore, imperative that the international community addresses these psychological strategies to allow civilians to live without having to constantly fear for their lives.
* Amidst the sensitive nature of the topic, some interviewees preferred not using their full name.
Michelle Eid is a researcher, consultant, and editor, and the editor-in-chief of Al Rawiya, a digital magazine covering social issues, heritage, economics and politics in the Levant.
Jad El Dilati serves as the MENA Program Coordinator at Minority Rights Group where his work focuses on advocating for the rights of ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities in the MENA region and implementing projects that build the capacity of civil society organizations.