This paper examines the politics of care of international and local humanitarian actors, as well as the social responses to their intervention in the southern suburbs of Beirut (Dahiye) during the Israeli shelling in the summer of 2006. Through in-depth interviews and ethnographic participant observation methods (2011-2013), this paper illustrates how short-term foreign provision of aid differs from the continuous efforts of some local providers to support their communities on a daily basis, unearth different approaches to states of emergency and responses to crisis and demonstrate how the international-local dyad plays out in a very complex way on the ground.

Drawing on the experiences of several activists, experts, and individuals involved in the provision of aid and relief during and after the 2006 July war on Lebanon, this case study explores the issues of neutrality and local commitment in providing assistance during war and conflict, looking into the humanitarian principle of neutrality, and localized and communal mobilizations for relief.

This study looks into the forms of relief provided by grassroots collective, Samidoun, during the July 2006 war on Lebanon, focusing on the expertise and transformative spaces such groups produce. It argues that a total reliance on professionalization and NGO-ization in aid provision can prevent the emergence of civil resistance forms of relief.

The paper explores the capacities and roles of Municipalities and Unions of Municipalities (UoMs) as actors and contributors to regional planning in Lebanon, and their role in addressing needs caused by the Syrian refugee crisis, especially related to service provision and shelter.