In the early hours of the morning, Mona Najdi woke up to a distressing text message from her cousin in Southern Lebanon.
She said there was an attack near her hometown in Sur that left many "severely injured," and she was scared and confused about what could happen next.
Those fears and anxieties were echoed by Lebanese-Australians — a community of about 250,000 people — after a series of explosions targeting pager devices detonated across parts of Lebanon, killing 12 people, including two children, and injuring 3,000.
The next day, walkie-talkie radios exploded, killing 20 and injuring 450 in Beirut's suburbs and the Bekaa Valley.
The combined death toll rose to 37, with 3,500 injured.
Then on Friday afternoon local time, an Israeli strike targeting a senior Hezbollah commander killed at least 12 people and wounded 66 others in the southern Beirut suburb of Haniyeh.
After the attacks, Mrs Najdi's family in Lebanon were too afraid to leave their homes.
"It's unsettling not knowing what will happen next. I'm constantly trying to stay updated on new information and hoping family and friends are OK. It can take a toll on your mental health," Mrs Najdi said.
The attacks targeted the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, but civilians who used pagers in remote areas, as well as healthcare workers, were injured, and two children were killed.
With the majority of Fatima Tabaja's family living in southern Lebanon, the latest attacks have fuelled her anxiety over the safety of her loved ones.
The Canberra woman said many in the community have been left devastated and paranoid to text or call their family members.
"Everyone's a bit uncertain on what — not only the next day is going to bring — but the next minute every time a phone rings," Mrs Tabaja said.
"It could be your neighbours. It could be the person that you're walking past in the street. It could be a doctor's pager. It could be anything."
While Israel has not commented on the blasts, it has declared a "new phase" of war focused on the country's northern border with Lebanon.
Mrs Tabaja said many have had to flee from the south and have become displaced, with a risk of a regional escalation.
"People just want a bit of normality … Many kids aren't going to school," she said.
Lebanese diaspora fearful from afar
It was nearly midnight when Michael Khairallah saw the scenes of the pager attack playing out on his television.
"I just talked to my sister and she said the first night they wouldn't turn the TV on, they wouldn't use their mobile phones," he said.
He said his family and friends in Lebanon were living in fear and anxiety.
"I was in shock … it was very sad news to use the technology to kill human beings instead of using it for something more peaceful," he said.
He said some were leaving their homes for fear the batteries on their solar systems may blow up.
"They live in fear really because the people have been targeted aren't just militant people, a lot of them are civilians, and some of them young kids," he said.
Mr Khairallah, who is also the chairperson of the Victorian Lebanese Community Council, said the attack had devastated Lebanese Australians, many of whom have ties to their home country.
"People here are very anxious as to what's going to happen next because with the new satellites, they watch the news minute by minute from Lebanon and this can have big impacts on the community," he said.
"We've had enough war in Lebanon, and we can't afford to have another war."
He called on the Australian government to put pressure on Israel to prevent further escalation of the war.
Pagers commonly used in Lebanon
Nadine from Brisbane, who's using her first name only for security reasons, also has family in South Lebanon. She said she was frustrated with the way the attacks have been portrayed.
Her cousins overseas use pagers to text their mothers to send "bring milk" or "call me" messages when they're in villages that have no mobile phone reception.
"Not all places are first-world countries with high-speed internet — some don't even have constant power. The average wage in Lebanon is 2,000 US dollars a month," she said.
"Sometimes you have power for six hours a day, in the south, you might get an hour in the morning and a few hours in the evening in some areas. You can't just have mobile phones everywhere. It isn't like here."
In Sydney, Yasmine Bazzi stayed up all night to watch Hezbollah leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah's speech in response to the attacks.
Nasrallah vowed to serve punishment for the attacks claiming Israel had "no red lines".
"I know two people whose family lost an eye and fingers in this attack," she said.
She said she was disappointed that people were not aware how widely the attack affected civilians.
"It's a terrorist attack, civilian lives were killed. Two or more children. This was a horrible day for Lebanon," Ms Bazzi said.
She said her cousin in Lebanon, who had just given birth, had turned off the baby monitor, fearing what device might be targeted next.
"What device could be next? This is psychologically damaging to people who just want to live their lives. Our lives matter too," she said.
The secretary of the Lebanese Muslim Association, Gamel Kheir, said there had been a heightened sense of alarm in Lebanon since October 7, and it had only gotten worse.
"We've heard stories where people are just throwing their phones out or lining up in queues to get their phones checked," Mr Kheir said.
He said the diaspora community in Australia was growing angry with the federal government and wanted it to call out the attack.
"This community is already angry over what's happened in Gaza by the deadly silence of our politicians, and this deadly silence has just gone even deeper … They can't even have the courage to call out what is clearly a violation of human rights."
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has re-iterated her calls for Australians to leave and not enter Lebanon.
"We wish to see peace in the Middle East, and again I would make the point I've made about Hezbollah, it's a terrorist organisation. We list it as such in Australia, but ultimately what we want to see is an end to this cycle of violence from all sides," Senator Wong said.
In response to the explosions, Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa director Lama Fakih said a prompt and impartial investigation into the attacks should be urgently conducted.
"Customary international humanitarian law prohibits the use of booby traps — objects that civilians are likely to be attracted to or are associated with normal civilian daily use — precisely to avoid putting civilians at grave risk and produce the devastating scenes that continue to unfold across Lebanon today," she said.
