Residents and emergency responders who returned during a temporary ceasefire described the sound and sight of controlled demolitions coming from nearby Israeli-held areas. Abed Ammar, 35, an emergency responder, said the demolitions were louder than airstrikes. The Israeli military has released videos showing neighborhoods destroyed in seconds by detonations and has documented controlled demolitions across many of the roughly 55 towns and villages it now controls in southern Lebanon.
Israeli officials say the demolitions target Hezbollah infrastructure and are intended to create a buffer zone to reduce attacks on towns in northern Israel. Critics, including U.N.-appointed human rights experts and aid organizations, say the operations — together with intense airstrikes over months — have severely damaged civilian infrastructure and mirror tactics used in Gaza. Those experts have condemned the scale of destruction and the use of broad evacuation orders, arguing the campaign shows ‘utmost contempt for the international legal order’ and may amount to violations of international law. At times Israeli officials have acknowledged the resemblance; after the military detonated what it described as a large Hezbollah weapons cache, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the fate of southern Lebanon would resemble Gaza.
Access to the occupied zone is tightly restricted. Journalists and residents can only reach as far south as the edge of the area under Israeli control. There, observers found buildings crushed by airstrikes, personal belongings amid piles of rubble, and burnt-out cars. Lebanese officials estimate roughly 62,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed since March. Because of constrained access, satellite imagery has been used to document damage, showing extensive sections of towns and villages being leveled.
Researchers monitoring conflicts by satellite say the pattern resembles Gaza in both scale and sequence. Corey Scher, a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon State University’s Conflict Ecology laboratory, notes that large areas previously damaged are increasingly being completely flattened: airstrikes, followed by ground incursions and controlled demolitions, are producing towns that are effectively wiped off the map.
Critical infrastructure has also been hit. Over recent months bridges across the Litani River — major crossings into the south — were struck, including the coastal Qasmiyeh bridge, which was hit shortly before a temporary ceasefire. Israeli officials contend bridges were used by Hezbollah to move weapons, but humanitarian groups warn that destroying crossings impedes civilians, aid deliveries, and emergency response. Water systems, electricity networks and other civilian services have suffered damage, deepening the needs of people sheltering elsewhere.
Aid organizations warned early on that the Lebanese campaign was following a ‘Gaza playbook,’ documenting damage to water and electricity systems and to bridges that cut off supplies and services. Israel rejects allegations it is deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure, saying operations are driven by national security needs.
For residents of the occupied areas, the destruction has eroded any prospect of a safe return. Fifty-year-old Zainab Mahdi, from the coastal village of Naqoura now under Israeli control, has been living in a temporary shelter in Tyre after fleeing earlier fighting. U.N. peacekeepers told her most of her village is gone. She described anger, sadness and fear about whether she will ever be able to return. Mahdi said her home garden was bulldozed and vowed to return as soon as possible, saying that simply sitting on one’s own land lifts the spirit despite everything.
Israel briefly occupied parts of southern Lebanon for nearly two decades in a previous conflict, and officials say they are prepared to remain in the occupied areas for months or even years. Humanitarian groups, U.N. experts and researchers warn that ongoing demolition of homes, destruction of infrastructure and restricted aid access risk prolonged displacement, severe civilian suffering and damage that will be difficult to repair.”}