The Lebanese civilians most devastated by the Israeli war are Shiite Muslims, and many of them believe they are being unfairly punished because they share a religious identity with Hezbollah militants and often live in the same areas.

"This is clear," said Wael Murtada, a young Shiite man who anxiously watched paramedics search rubble after a recent Israeli airstrike destroyed his uncle's two-story home and killed 10 people. "Who else is being attacked?"

Israel appears to be trying to create a buffer zone in south Lebanon to remove the threat from Hezbollah but its effectiveness in preventing cross-border attacks remains to be seen, observers say.

Stuck in no man's land on the war-hit Lebanon-Syria border, cab driver Fadi Slika now scrapes a living ferrying passengers between two deep craters left by Israeli air strikes.

For more than a year, the United States has steadfastly backed Israel in its Gaza war while quietly counseling restraint. With Donald Trump's return, the nuance will vanish, although his hunger for deal-making makes him less predictable.

When Zarifa Nawfal's family arrived in Beirut for her wounded daughter's surgery, one of the first things she wanted to do was go to the sea. The Mediterranean had been a constant companion at their home in Gaza before the war.

"The moment I smelled the sea, I felt at peace inside — as if I were in Gaza," she said.