The Israeli military has demolished entire villages in southern Lebanon as part of its invasion, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. Videos reviewed by The Guardian show mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported further demolitions in other border villages.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, called for the destruction of “all houses” in border villages “in accordance with the model used in Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza” to stop threats to communities in northern Israel. The Israeli military has said it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, such as tunnels and military facilities, which it claims are embedded in civilian homes.
Rights groups fear the tactic of domicide—systematic destruction of civilian housing to render areas uninhabitable—trialled in Gaza is being used again. Israel has said it will occupy vast swathes of south Lebanon, establishing a “security zone” up to the Litani River, and that displaced people would not be allowed to return until the safety of Israel’s northern cities is guaranteed.
Human Rights Watch researcher Ramzi Kaiss said the possibility that Hezbollah may use some civilian structures does not justify the wide-scale destruction of entire villages. The laws of war prohibit deliberate destruction of civilian homes except when necessary for lawful military reasons.
For residents like Ahmad Abu Taam, a shop owner from Taybeh, the detonations erased not only homes but generations of memories. “Everything is gone. Everything has been wiped out,” he said. Ahmad Ibrahim, a farmer from Deir Seryan, mourned that his children would not enjoy springtime in their homes but would spend it displaced.
