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‘We are all the same’: Lebanese come together to feed those forced to flee
Beirut, Lebanon – At Nation Station, a communal kitchen in the Geitawi neighbourhood, volunteers move to and fro, stacking food on a table.
Behind them, others stir meat, cook rice or chop lettuce while trading small talk.
“Fifty meals!”, one of the volunteers shouts out to his comrades, noting a benchmark.
They return the enthusiasm with a communal cheer, without breaking from their tasks.
The volunteers in the petrol station-turned-communal kitchen are working to prepare meals to be delivered to shelters for people who have been forced to flee their homes.
One million displaced
Before Israel began relentlessly bombarding Lebanon’s south, Bekaa Valley in the east and Beirut’s southern suburbs on September 23, more than 110,000 people had already been displaced from their homes in southern Lebanon during the 11 months of cross-border attacks.
Last Monday’s escalation forced many more to flee and the situation became even more dire on Friday when Israel levelled an entire block in a southern suburb of Beirut while assassinating Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and other officials from the group.
The Israeli army then demanded that large parts of Beirut’s suburbs, already reeling from the previous week’s attacks, evacuate.
In the days that followed, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said as many as one million people, or about one-fifth of the country’s residents, were displaced.
Lebanon’s Ministry of Education designated a number of schools as temporary shelters for the displaced, while the occupancy of hotels and rented apartments spiked.
But beyond that, the Lebanese state’s capacity is limited.
The country is in its fifth year of a devastating economic and banking crisis, which experts largely blame on the ruling political class.
Picking up the slack
In the space where the government, the United Nations or international NGOs fall short, initiatives like Nation Station fill the gaps.
“Nation Station started the day after the August 4th explosion in 2020,” Josephine Abou Abdo, the cofounder of Nation Station, told Al Jazeera.
“We responded to emergency needs back then and since the Israeli aggression on Monday, we’ve cooked meals for those in need.”
The volunteers cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for the displaced people, to be delivered to the shelters.
In total, they make 700 portions of food daily. To make so many meals is taxing and Abou Abdo says the group is actively seeking volunteers to help feed the displaced.
Others who aren’t part of initiatives like Nation Station have also stepped up, taking families into their homes, donating blood, or distributing water to people stranded on the highways.
‘Influencers’ in action
In Beirut’s Ramlet al-Bayda neighbourhood, some students move busily back and forth. The constant drone of the air circulation system drowns out the sound of chatter. Students are split into groups, some build boxes, while others fill them with staples like dry food, water, or cleaning supplies. Once the boxes are finished, the groups form an assembly line to pass them into a parked white van as a young man gives instructions.
Once full, the vans depart for parts of the country where the need is most desperate.
This initiative was started by three social media influencers, Ghena Sandid, Farah Dika, and Sara Fawaz. The trio, who have no organisation or association and have not even named their initiative, mobilised their followings to secure a free space – an underground parking garage – to organise and send out the aid.
People from abroad have also been donating money for the relief efforts. But with Lebanon’s banking system collapsing in 2019, many fundraising efforts have run into trouble getting that money to Lebanon. To circumvent that, Dika told Al Jazeera that Western Union had lifted her transfer limit.
“At first, we thought the initiative would be small with only ten to 15 people helping,” Sandid said. “That number quickly turned into around 450 students. They’ve provided aid to over 50 schools across 30 regions in Lebanon.”
‘We’re all the same’
Outside the garage, teenager Zoey Zein stood with a group of her friends. “I came to help because I want people to know there are people that are helping as long as they need.”
This mobilisation has provided aid to thousands of people, but the groups are struggling to keep up with the ever-increasing number of displaced.
“One problem we face is that at first, we needed to serve 1,000 people,” Dika said. “Now that number is at 5,000.” Dika was speaking to Al Jazeera on Friday afternoon, just a few hours before the strikes that killed Nasrallah.
Since then, the number of people forced from their homes has soared. Many have taken to sleeping in parks or by the seaside.
Down in the garage, a van’s loading area is filled with goods. The volunteers close the doors and a few climb inside. Jad Jaafar, 21, sat in the passenger seat. He volunteers about six or more hours a day. “I’m trying to help,” he said. “There are people who can’t stay in their homes, so we need to go out and help them.”
“I’m from Baalbek,” he added, referring to Lebanon’s eastern region. “Next to me is a Beiruti and a northerner, and someone from the mountain. We’re all the same.”
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warned that more casualties are expected in the ongoing Operation Epic Fury in Iran, with seven U.S. soldiers having been killed so far in the fighting.
Hegseth made the comment during an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired on Sunday.
“The president’s been right to say there will be casualties,” Hegseth said. “Things like this don’t happen without casualties.”
“There will be more casualties,” he continued. “And no one is — I mean, especially our generation knows what it’s like to see Americans come home in caskets, it’s — but that doesn’t weaken us one bit. It stiffens our spine and our resolve to say this is a fight we will finish.”
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U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaks at the “Shield of the Americas” Summit in Miami, Florida, March 7, 2026. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
Six U.S. service members were killed in a March 1 Iranian drone attack in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait, while supporting Operation Epic Fury. The U.S. military said a seventh service member died of injuries from an Iranian attack on troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1.
The U.S. and Israel last week launched joint strikes against Iran. Iran has retaliated, launching strikes against Israel and neighboring Gulf Arab states, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Residents look on and take pictures as flames and smoke rise from an oil storage facility struck as attacks hit the city during the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (Alireza Sotakbar/ISNA via AP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi on Sunday told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that if the U.S. deploys ground troops in Iran, “we have very brave soldiers who are waiting for any enemy who enters into our soil, to fight with them and to kill them and destroy them.”
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“We never give up, we never surrender, and we continue to resist as long as it takes,” he said. “We continue to defend ourselves, and we are defending our territory, our people and our dignity. And our dignity is not for sale.”
When reporters asked President Donald Trump aboard Air Force One on Saturday about potential ground troops being used in the Iran operation, the president said there would “have to be a very good reason.”
From left, President Donald Trump, White House special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, center, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth listen to a reporter’s question while traveling aboard Air Force One en route from Dover Air Force Base, Del., to Miami, Saturday, March 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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“And I would say if we ever did that, [Iran] would be so decimated they wouldn’t be able to fight at the ground level,” Trump told reporters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Kyiv could provide defensive systems as well as assistance to civilians and American soldiers “deployed in certain countries” in the Middle East as the war in Iran continues.
He has reportedly proposed an exchange of Ukrainian defensive technology to combat Iranian drones in return for advanced US defensive systems to use in the war against Russia.
The US-Israel-Iran conflict, which started 10 days ago when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran and killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has continued to escalate. Iran has responded with strikes on Israel and US military assets and other infrastructure in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
As Gulf and other Middle Eastern states continue to attempt to intercept incoming drones and missiles with US-supplied air defences, the US has asked Ukraine to contribute some of its own air-defence systems.
Here is what we know.
What has the US requested from Ukraine and why?
The US has asked for Ukraine’s help in defending Washington’s allies in the Middle East against Iranian missile attacks on infrastructure and US military assets, Ukraine’s president confirmed last week.
At the moment, the US is using air defence systems such as the Patriot, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries and Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, to intercept Iranian drones and missiles targeting its military assets in the region. The Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) and PAC-3 are advanced surface-to-air missile defence systems.
However, these types of systems are extremely expensive, costing millions of dollars for each interceptor missile fired, and there are concerns that supplies of US interceptor missiles could run low.
“We received a request from the United States for specific support in protection against ‘shaheds’ in the Middle East region,” Zelenskyy wrote in an X post on March 5.
Shahed drones, particularly the Shahed-136, are Iranian-designed “kamikaze” or loitering munitions which are very low cost compared to the interceptors being used by the US. Costing roughly $20,000-$35,000 each, these GPS-guided drones are about 3.5m (11.5 feet) long and fly autonomously to pre-programmed coordinates to strike fixed targets with explosive payloads. They blow up as they hit their targets.
Over the course of the Iran war, Shahed-136 drones have targeted Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE where US military assets and troops are hosted. Experts estimate that Iran has thousands of these drones.
Iran has also been supplying Moscow with many thousands of Shahed drones during Russia’s war on Ukraine.
During the course of Russia’s four-year war on Ukraine, Ukraine’s domestic arms industry has been forced to innovate, building low-cost interceptor drones priced at roughly $1,000 to $2,000 to counter Russian attacks with imported Iranian Shahed-136s.
Kyiv is now mass-producing these low-cost interceptor drones.
“The role of Shahed-type drones in long-range attacks has become more prominent in Ukraine after Russia took Iranian technology, improved it, and built it in previously unimaginable numbers,” Keir Giles, a Eurasia expert for the UK-based think tank Chatham House, told Al Jazeera.
What has Zelenskyy said?
Zelenskyy has posted several statements on social media confirming that he is ready to help Middle Eastern countries defend their territories by providing technical expertise.
“Ukrainians have been fighting against ‘shahed’ drones for years now, and everyone recognises that no other country in the world has this kind of experience. We are ready to help,” he wrote on X on March 5.
“I gave instructions to provide the necessary means and ensure the presence of Ukrainian specialists who can guarantee the required security.
“Ukraine helps partners who help ensure our security and protect the lives of our people.”
It is understood that Ukraine is in talks with several Middle Eastern countries about this.
On Monday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine has deployed interceptor drones and a team of specialists to help protect US military bases in Jordan.
Zelenskyy wrote on X that he has also spoken directly to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) about “countering threats from the Iranian regime”.
He also said he had spoken with the leaders of Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.
Zelenskyy has repeatedly stressed that Ukraine must not weaken its own air defences. However, it is mass-producing this equipment now, and may well be able to afford to share.
“The fact that there are surplus capabilities ready to be sent to the US and the Middle East is unsurprising because Ukraine has led this innovation,” Giles said.
Zelenskyy has therefore proposed an exchange of air defence systems with the US ones being used in the Middle East.
“We ourselves are at war. And I said, completely frankly, that we have a shortage of what they have. They have missiles for the Patriots, but hundreds or thousands of ‘shaheds’ cannot be intercepted with Patriot missiles – it is too costly,” Zelenskyy said.
“Meanwhile, we have a shortage of PAC-2 and PAC-3 missiles. So, when it comes to technology or weapons exchange, I believe our country will be open to it.”
Zelenskyy may also have good political reasons for extending help, analysts say.
“The US has declined support for Ukraine on the ground that it had insufficient supply of air defence munitions, and now more of those Patriots have been fired in the Middle East in a few days, than have been supplied to Ukraine in four years,” Giles said.
“Zelenskyy will be aware that in providing this assistance, he is not only shaming the US, but also directly supporting potential friends and partners in the Middle East, who before now have been ambivalent to the situation in Ukraine,” Giles said.
Who else has sent defensive backup to the Gulf?
European countries including the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy have pledged to provide defensive backup to Gulf nations over the past week. Additionally, Australia said it was deploying military assets to the region.
Wary of becoming directly involved in the US-Israeli war on Iran, European countries have nevertheless been drawn into the conflict by attacks on a British base on Cyprus in the Mediterranean and Iranian strikes on Western allies in Gulf countries that host US troops in military bases.
What will happen next?
Just as Ukraine is getting involved in the war, Russia might too, say experts.
“We should not be surprised if before long, as well as Russian technology in Iranian drones, we see Iran launching Shaheds manufactured in Russia,” Giles said.
He described Russia as a “primary beneficiary of current US actions,” pointing to how the surge in oil prices, the relaxation in US curbs on Russian energy exports to keep crude and gas prices under control, and the diversion of air defence munitions from Europe to the Middle East all helped Moscow. These, he said, “are all lifelines for Russia”.
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