ATGENDER 2026 Statement of Solidarity with Lebanon

In the context of the ongoing military escalation in West Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean, ATGENDER expresses its solidarity with the people of Lebanon, including migrant workers and refugees, who are currently facing sustained and unjustifiable military attacks by the United States and Israel. As of the time of writing this statement, more than 100 attacks have reportedly occurred within minutes in southern Lebanon, killing over 300 people. Lebanon has not been included in the ceasefire arrangements announced by Israel and the United States, which have instead focused on Iran, further exacerbating the scale of violence against civilians.

We join in mourning the loss of civilian life and express our deep outrage at the continued violations of international law, including the targeting and killing of civilians, humanitarian workers, journalists, and peacekeepers. Such acts represent not only a humanitarian catastrophe but also a profound erosion of the legal and ethical frameworks that are meant to govern political relationships between sovereign nation states and armed conflict.

We also extend our solidarity to members of the Lebanese diaspora, as well as to our students and colleagues whose families and communities are directly affected. We recognise the profound emotional and psychological toll of witnessing violence unfold across borders, and we stand with those navigating grief, fear, and uncertainty.

Since 2023, Israel has repeatedly conducted airstrikes on Lebanese territory. Starting from as far back as 1968, Israel has encroached upon Lebanon’s sovereignty by carrying out airstrikes against civilians and civilian infrastructure, launching ground invasions and imposing blockades and occupations over large areas. 

While previously, Israel justified military aggression against Lebanon under the pretext of countering terrorism, more recently such acts of violence are carried out with overt genocidal rhetoric and explicit objectives of settler colonial expansion. This discursive shift does not mark a rupture but rather a reconfiguration of the justificatory frameworks that have long enabled such violence. Such narratives not only reflect but increasingly lay bare the structural conditions underpinning the conflict, while simultaneously reproducing broader anti-muslim and Zionist logics that sustain and normalise this violence. 

Relatedly, while we acknowledge that suffering is experienced across the region, we emphasise the importance of situating this violence within broader geopolitical structures of state power. In particular, we draw attention to the asymmetries that shape this conflict and to the disproportionate impact of military aggression on civilian populations in Lebanon. It is crucial to differentiate between forms of violence that emerge from conditions of occupation, militarisation, and geopolitical domination, and those that are used to justify further escalation and destruction.