Karine Torbay

Israel was firing missiles on Beirut, saying it was striking members of Hezbollah in self-defense.

For a month, the two sides had been engaged in low-level exchanges of fire during Israel's war in Gaza.

The apartment block next to where Yasmina lived was one of those Israel targeted.

The family moved back to Beirut after the war in 2024.

But they're ready to leave again at a moment's notice if they have to.

Plan B for Roshana, who'd left Tyre in a hurry with her children and little else, was to drive to her sister's house further up the coast.

Daughter Freya was too young to understand why they were making the journey.

But older daughter Jennifer remembered being displaced by war with Israel two years before.

In the rush to leave home the day before, the green dress, like the rest of their belongings, had been left behind.

You're listening to Assignment from the BBC World Service.

I'm Karine Torbay, and in this episode, we're hearing about what life is like in Lebanon, a country repeatedly hit by war.

While many people managed to stay with friends and family, not everyone had someone they could turn to for help.

When the most recent war started, state-run schools were turned into displacement centres to accommodate thousands of people with nowhere else to go.

We meet Yasmina again.

She's a social worker and is part of a team organised by the International Medical Corps.

We drive out with her to a school where they provide help and support to people who are now living in them.

So Yasmina, can you please, you know, what do you do there?

What do you actually do when you go to a displacement centre?

It was chaotic in the beginning.

The school, now a shelter that we arrive at with Yasmina, is close to the center of Beirut.