A notable increase in attacks may signify that Israel is stepping up a campaign to clear the south.
Beirut, Lebanon – Israel’s attacks on southern Lebanon have intensified in recent days, reaching a new peak on Wednesday, a day that saw both sides inflict casualties.
On Wednesday morning, an Israeli soldier was killed and eight wounded in a Hezbollah rocket attack on a base in Safad.
Israel responded with a round of attacks on villages across southern Lebanon, including Iqlim al-Tuffah, Aadchit, Jibchit and Labbouneh.
At least four deaths, including a mother and her two children, and multiple injuries were reported as photos and videos of smoke billowing from destroyed buildings emerged on Hezbollah-linked Telegram groups. A Hezbollah fighter was also reportedly killed.
The attacks are not new, but the intensification follows attempts by international diplomats to bring an end to the conflict across the Lebanese-Israeli border.
For the past three nights, “the raids have lasted till 3am,” Ramiz Dallah told media by phone on Tuesday as the line was repeatedly cut. “It wasn’t this bad before. This time, we’re not hearing drones but warplanes.”
Although the bombing has driven most people in his hometown away, Dallah, who works as a freelance journalist, returns every evening to stay with his mother, who refuses to leave.
Israel has attacked much of the 120km (75-mile) border, also known as the Blue Line, by air and artillery since October 8 when Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas. More than 240 people have been killed, including at least 22 civilians.
“It wants to empty the area south of the Litani [River] of civilians.”
Analysts agreed, telling media that Israel’s history of behaviour in conflict shows efforts to make southern Lebanon uninhabitable for civilians to create a security buffer zone.
Human rights organisations said these attacks on civilians amount to war crimes.
“Over the past week, civilians in Lebanon have been reportedly killed in at least four separate Israeli strikes in south Lebanon,” Ramzi Kaiss, a researcher at Human Rights Watch’s (HRW’s) Beirut office, said.
“This follows reports by several human rights organisations… that Israel has conducted unlawful strikes in Lebanon, including through both apparently indiscriminate and deliberate attacks on civilians, amounting to war crimes.”
‘War crimes’ against south Lebanon’s population
On Saturday, an Israeli artillery attack on Houla, a Lebanese village on the border, killed a Lebanese security officer and a civilian bakery worker and injured others, including children, after shells landed near a mosque.
A source who monitors security incidents for a major humanitarian organisation said the attack was followed by drone fire to harass or kill first responders.
Israel’s strategy of total warfare on southern Lebanon is having an effect.
“It’s very striking when you drive to the south,” said Nadim Houry, the former head of HRW’s Beirut office and current executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative in Paris.
“The Lebanese side is completely barren land whereas the Israelis are cultivating down to the last inch before the border. The [Israelis] made it quasi-impossible to plant [crops].”
Israel invaded Lebanon and laid siege to west Beirut in 1982, then occupied the country from 1985 to 2000. In 2006, Hezbollah and Israel faced off in a month-long conflict.
The damage to Lebanon’s infrastructure in 2006 was more than $3.5bn as Israel employed the Dahiya Doctrine, which aims to pressure their opponents by levelling civilian infrastructure.
During the 2006 war, Israel “carried out widespread bombardment of southern Lebanon … in a manner that did not discriminate between military objectives and civilians”, according to an HRW report from September 2007 titled, Why They Died: Civilian Casualties in Lebanon during the 2006 War.
“[Israeli army] cluster munitions struck wide swathes of southern Lebanon, particularly during the last three days of the conflict when both sides knew a settlement was imminent,” the report said.
Houry, who was the author of that report, said certain patterns emerged during the 2006 conflict that inform how Israel approaches southern Lebanon today.
“At that point, everyone knew the war was over. Why would you drop that many submunitions?” Houry asked.
“They basically emptied out all the reserves of submunitions, including some going back to the ’70s, and littered southern Lebanon to prevent a return of normal life to the south.”
Houry said the Israelis also would bomb buildings they knew were empty just because Hezbollah members lived there.
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