The Arab Baptist Theological Seminary near Beirut is sheltering displaced people who fled their homes as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah forces hundreds of thousands of civilians across Lebanon to seek refuge.
About 170 internally displaced people are staying on the seminary’s campus while the institution continues its educational work online for roughly 250 students, the Southern Baptist Convention's news service, Baptist Press reports, quoting the seminary's president, Wissam Nasrallah.
Israel’s military campaign against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia has forced large-scale civilian movement across the country.
The seminary, located on the eastern outskirts of Beirut in an area considered relatively safe, is providing food, housing and other basic necessities while staff attempts to balance emergency relief with the school’s long-term mission of training Christian leaders from across the Middle East.
The displaced people staying at the campus come from southern Lebanon, the Bekaa region and suburbs of Beirut, and about a quarter of them are children, according to Evangelical Focus.
Residents gathered at the campus help kitchen workers prepare meals and attend daily community chapel services organized during the crisis, while the sounds of drones and bombing can still be heard across the region.
The Arab Baptist Theological Seminary trains Christian leaders from across the Arab world. The institution was founded in the late 1950s by Southern Baptist missionaries and now operates under THIMAR, the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development. Baptist partners in the United States continue to support its work.
The conflict escalated after Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel on March 2, saying it was responding to the killing of Iran’s supreme leader at the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, triggering an extensive Israeli bombing campaign against the Lebanese armed group and a new wave of displacement across the country, according to Reuters.
Over 700 people have been killed and 1,774 others injured in Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the fighting began, and at least 26 medics and first responders are among the dead, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, while Hezbollah has launched hundreds of rockets across the border into Israel.
Israel has warned that it may target ambulances and medical facilities if they are used for military purposes by Hezbollah, a claim the group denies, in a development that has raised concerns because hospitals and medical infrastructure are protected under international law unless they lose protected status through military use.
The fighting has forced about 800,000 people to flee southern Lebanon in roughly 10 days, and about one-fifth of the country’s population of around 4 million is now displaced by the violence.
Israel has also expanded its military posture along the northern frontier and signaled it is preparing for a prolonged campaign against Hezbollah, while Israeli aircraft dropped warning leaflets over Beirut, threatening damage similar to the devastation seen in Gaza during Israel’s war with Hamas.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has called for a ceasefire agreement and Israeli support for the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah, accusing the armed group of risking the destruction of villages and threatening the stability of the Lebanese state.
Christians make up about 30% of Lebanon’s population, roughly 1.2 million people. Evangelical believers account for about 1% of the population, around 40,000 people.
Among those displaced are members of the Baptist Church in Deir Mimas, a congregation located near the Lebanon Israel border whose members fled north as bombardment intensified in the south.
