The Israeli military has restricted movement in and out of three beseigned Christian towns in southern Lebanon, forcing residents to travel in prearranged convoys along a single route through Naqoura.
Residents must register their vehicles and submit travelers’ details before entering or leaving Rmeish, Debel and Ain Ebel in the Bint Jbeil district.
People remain in the three towns despite being encircled by Israeli forces occupying every neighboring community. Relief and medical supplies arrive from elsewhere in Lebanon in convoys escorted by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Local sources in Rmeish told Asharq Al-Awsat that no vehicle may travel alone. At least one convoy of several cars or buses leaves one of the three towns each day.
The Lebanese army and UNIFIL organize the convoys, which must take the coastal road south of Tyre to Naqoura before heading to the Christian towns in Bint Jbeil.
The army escorts them as far as Qlayleh, about 15 km from the Israeli border. UNIFIL vehicles then accompany them to their villages.
Travelers must register their vehicles and provide UNIFIL with their personal details in advance. Their identities are checked and their vehicles searched as part of coordination with Israeli forces to allow them to pass, the sources said.
The restrictions have prompted the Vatican, through its ambassador to Lebanon, to ask the United States to intervene to prevent Israel from limiting the movement of residents of the Christian villages, Asharq Al-Awsat learned.
Marjayoun villages spared restrictions
The measures apply only to Christian villages in Bint Jbeil district and do not extend to those in Marjayoun district.
Residents and visitors can travel freely between Qlayaa, Jdeidet Marjayoun, Burj al-Mulouk and Deir Mimas and out of the towns, local sources in Qlayaa told Asharq Al-Awsat.
They use a route through the Western Bekaa in eastern Lebanon toward Hasbaya and then take the Ibl al-Saqi-Dibbin-Marjayoun road.
Residents continue to visit the towns as usual, but the communities are barred from hosting people displaced from nearby villages and towns. Journalists visiting the area are also prohibited from photographing the nearby town of Khiam, the sources said.
Israeli forces stationed in Kfar Kila and Tall al-Nahhas erected an earth mound on Tuesday near the Deir Mimas-Burj al-Mulouk-Kfar Kila junction, toward Tall al-Nahhas. It lies about 150 meters from inhabited homes in Burj al-Mulouk.
The forces built another earth mound near the Deir Mimas-Burj al-Mulouk-Houra junction.
More than 5,000 properties destroyed in Mais al-Jabal
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has continued bulldozing towns inside the “yellow line” and systematically destroying the homes still standing there.
In recent days, trucks carrying crates filled with explosives have traveled alongside Israeli patrols, a senior security source told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The crates are unloaded, and the explosives are placed around homes in occupied towns after they are looted, ahead of their demolition, the source said.
The same method was used in the border town of Mais al-Jabal, the largest town in Marjayoun district, where Israeli forces have continued destroying homes.
“Only dozens of housing units remain in Mais al-Jabal after more than 5,000 homes and commercial properties were destroyed,” the source said.
The latest demolition targeted a school complex consisting of prefabricated buildings that the Iraqi government had helped provide. The complex stood on the town’s outskirts, near Doubiyeh Castle and the road linking the area to Shaqra. Nearby homes were also destroyed.
The Israeli military also brought in specialized equipment to pulverize concrete into material resembling soil, making it easier for groups brought in for that purpose to remove reinforcing steel from destroyed buildings and transport it into Israel, the source said.
Before dawn on Tuesday, an Israeli force advanced toward Tallat al-Sawwan in Mayfadoun, an area inside the yellow line, and took up positions in a house.
Israeli military vehicles also moved from Hadatha into Haris in Bint Jbeil district and fired machine guns toward the town’s outskirts.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli forces had stepped up attacks on villages in the western sector of Tyre district.
Aircraft carried out two strikes on Mansouri and another on Wadi Hassan in Tayr Harfa, as large-scale demolitions took place in Mansouri and Majdal Zoun, the agency said.
Israeli artillery also shelled Ainata and Beit Lif in Bint Jbeil district. Warplanes struck Mansouri and Wadi Hassan on the outskirts of Tayr Harfa, southeast of Tyre.
