BEIRUT, Lebanon — More than a year of conflict between Hezbollah and Israel have cost Lebanon more than $5 billion in economic losses and damaged nearly 100,000 homes, the World Bank said on Thursday.Since September 23 of this year, Israel has been conducting a ground operation in southern Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure and push the terror group back from the Israeli border, after a year of near-daily cross-border attacks that drove some 60,000 residents of northern Israel from their homes.Hezbollah-led forces began attacking Israeli communities and military posts along the border on October 8, 2023, with the group saying it was doing so in support of Gaza following the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror onslaught in southern Israel.The World Bank report provided estimates for damage in Lebanon between October 8, 2023, and October 27, 2024, saying “the conflict has caused $5.1 billion in economic losses,” with damage to physical structures amounting to “at least $3.4 billion” on top of that.The losses are “largely concentrated in the commerce and tourism and hospitality sectors… as well as in the agriculture sector,” the report said.“The final cost of damage and losses for Lebanon associated with the conflict is expected to significantly exceed those presented in this assessment,” the report said.The conflict has also “damaged an estimated 99,209 housing units” — mainly in Lebanon’s south near the border with Israel — totaling $2.8 billion in damages, it said.
