One step ahead of the crisis

April 15, 2026

Emily Klooster

Our goals:

In 2022, TSI donors helped launch a mobile school in Lebanon with in-country partner Warm Heart. To date, the school serves Syrian refugee families in Bekaa Valley with education, food, and medical aid. Now, as the Israel-Hezbollah conflict escalates, creative solutions are needed so the school can continue offering education in a conflict zone.

Israel is moving swiftly into Lebanon. As of this writing, Israeli troops will soon control a large area in the south of the country as part of a campaign against Iranian-backed Hezbollah. Five bridges used by Hezbollah for weapons distribution have now been destroyed after the group fired rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.

So far, over 1,000 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than a million people have been internally displaced. Southern Lebanon is being targeted by Israel because it is at the center of Lebanon’s Shia Muslim community, Hezbollah’s main support base.

Warm Heart’s response

Meanwhile, the team at Warm Heart Lebanon scramble to respond so that education, trauma healing, and spiritual enrichment programs are not disrupted by war. Disaster relief has long been part of Warm Heart’s mission, with education, food, and medical aid for school families being one arm of ministry supported directly by TSI donors.

“There have been bombed bridges and cut-off streets by the river so no one can cross to the south of Lebanon,” said Pastor Joseph Milan, co-founder of Warm Heart, during an interview with TSI staff in March. “Last night Israel entered eight villages in the south. This is the point of no return until it’s finished.”

The conflict is getting closer.

Joseph says the unrest is still somewhat distant from his family in Beirut, but the conflict is getting closer.

“When they are bombing and doing air strikes, they are doing it in three places: in Bekaa Valley near our Warm Heart bases, by the southern border, and in Beirut,” said Joseph. “This is happening near where we live. In Bekaa it is near our ministry and school families, and in the south it is far away from us and our ministry. We do hear the bombs and smell the TNT and the dust. We are praying that it will be over soon and peace will come.”

At the moment, the Lebanese are suffering on the level of refugees, or worse in Joseph’s estimation. Lebanese families are newly displaced in the south and are without aid; most are sheltering in government schools or are left to fend for themselves on the seashore. Syrians continue to receive some aid due to their refugee status, yet many are choosing to return to Syria in an attempt to regain normalcy as their host country falls apart.

The launch of temporary online schooling

In Bekaa Valley, Syrian students from families that have chosen to stay in Lebanon are being kept at home for safety reasons, and TSI laptops have been distributed to Warm Heart families so they can participate in online school for now.

“Funds are needed for more laptops to purchase locally,” said Joseph. “We need between $100 and $200 per Chromebook. The war will not be over before summer, so we need resources. When winter is over and Israel can start to invade, they will cover a larger area. They will move from the south, bit by bit.”

Serving the whole family

Joseph and his team are still traveling to Bekaa Valley for home visits with student families and to deliver emergency food baskets and other resources. The ongoing challenge for the Warm Heart team is the scale of wartime needs. They must continuously weigh the urgency of immediate physical threats against academic and spiritual voids. As food and fuel costs rise rapidly in Lebanon, the need for immediate practical solutions for families is skyrocketing.

Saeed Milan, Joseph’s son, also a co-founder of Warm Heart, spends his days in combat medical response training as well as visiting schools and both planning and implementing educational programs. In the course of his work, Saeed was recently pulled over and interrogated by Hezbollah.

“I had two hours of interrogation, which is just another day,” he said.

Realizing Saeed was Lebanese, the group let him go. At this point, he does not take that for granted.

In times like these, Saeed is in touch with teachers and other Warm Heart staff daily.

“Our teachers are doing well,” he said. “They are not directly in the war zone, but any strike that happens in Bekaa feels very close.”

Warm Heart is now offering a new educational software program for the students, with every child and teacher receiving a profile connected to their schoolwork. Parents can also see their students’ grades.

“It’s going well, and we are one of the few schools that are doing it,” Saeed said.

Plans A, B, and C

Part of Warm Heart’s work includes a school for Lebanese families, which Saeed calls an investment in the community and in future generations.

“It’s worth it,” he said. “We find solutions that are out the box and ahead of each crisis. We have Plans A, B, and C. Peoples’ needs are not being catered to [here], and the Lebanese community is tired. It needs help too.”

As Syrians return to Syria, Saeed predicts they could begin to thrive there because of Warm Heart’s ministry to them in Lebanon.

“They won’t return empty-handed,” he said. “They have an education that will enable them to go to college or apply for a job.”

Addressing the whole child

A unique strength of the Warm Heart ministry is the focus on helping students develop life skills through vocational training, and on addressing the whole child, including home life.

“If a kid’s clothes are dirty, the principal and teachers start asking questions,” said Saeed. “Where is his mom? Are the children living with grandparents? Is the father in jail?”

The Warm Heart team are persistent, finding a way around each roadblock so they can continue to offer help wherever needed. They view their work as not only a job, but a lifestyle – a response to their Christian calling.

“If you do ministry with one hand, you have to have a food basket in the other hand,” Joseph said. “You cannot close your heart and say, ‘Sorry, I can only teach you about Christian things.’ Some days it’s medicine, on others it’s food baskets or school fees. The big need right now is hospitals and medicine [for our families]. We cannot close our hearts to all of these people.” •

Thank you for your support of this important work in Lebanon. Please pray for our partners in the Middle East.