The Israeli military has intensified operations in villages along the Yellow Line in South Lebanon, systematically demolishing homes and civilian infrastructure in what Lebanese sources fear is an effort to create a new buffer zone and pave the way for a prolonged Israeli presence.
The operations are taking place outside the Yellow Line, which Israel drew to demarcate a security zone in South Lebanon extending as far as 12 kilometers into Lebanese territory in some areas. Over recent weeks, Israeli forces have carried out dozens of demolitions in towns beyond that line.
The demolitions have hit Mansouri, Buyut al-Siyad and Majdal Zoun in the western sector; Baraachit, Beit Yahoun and Hadatha in the central sector; and Zawtar al-Sharqiya, Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Kfar Tebnit in the eastern sector.
Israel has also expanded airstrikes and artillery fire to Kfar Rumman, the Jabal al-Rafi heights near Nabatieh, Aita al-Jabal and Wadi Zibqin, among other areas.
Long-term occupation
Although the towns lie outside the Yellow Line, but targeting them, driving out residents and leaving them devastated “means Israel is planning a long-term occupation of the areas it controls,” a security source in South Lebanon told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The source said Israeli forces were turning the area adjacent to the Yellow Line into “a scorched zone that amounts to a new buffer zone beyond the buffer zone it created between the border with Lebanon and the Yellow Line.”
The moves were intended to drive residents away and prevent Hezbollah from monitoring Israeli troop movements and positions inside the occupied area, according to the source, who attributed the measures in part to Israeli concerns over a possible future resumption of resistance activity and military operations.
The source also pointed to a military dimension, saying the operations could clear the way for Israeli forces to rapidly seize additional territory with limited risk should they receive political authorization to advance.
Towns emptied and destroyed
In June, Israeli forces completely emptied Mansouri, south of Tyre, after dropping leaflets ordering residents to leave immediately because of the danger in the area. Thirty-seven families had returned to the town following the ceasefire.
Israeli forces have since carried out more than 130 demolitions, sources from Mansouri told Asharq Al-Awsat. They said Israeli tanks and military vehicles enter the town almost daily to rig buildings with explosives.
The sources added that military vehicles had crossed through the center of Mansouri toward the al-Birkeh area to the west, near the coastal road, where troops rigged homes with explosives and cut down trees. After the town’s mosque was destroyed, they said, it became difficult to determine which neighborhoods were being hit by demolitions or artillery fire because the mosque had served as a landmark for locating the blasts.
Hadatha and Beit Yahoun have also been completely emptied following Israeli incursions and daily shelling, while Baraachit is now nearly deserted, local sources in the central sector told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The sources noted that Aita al-Jabal was subjected to daily artillery fire and incursions around its outskirts, prompting most residents to leave as the town became increasingly dangerous.
Kfar Tebnit and Nabatieh al-Fawqa are similarly deserted and largely destroyed, amid demolitions in the former and shelling and airstrikes in the latter. Nabatieh al-Fawqa was emptied after an Israeli strike in June targeted a teacher and her children as they traveled to their home to retrieve belongings.
Unstable areas
Areas facing Israeli-held towns east of Wadi al-Hujair and Wadi al-Slouqi are meanwhile subjected to daily artillery fire, airstrikes and persistent Israeli drone flights.
The security source said conditions there differed from those in towns directly bordering the Yellow Line because they were relatively farther away and had therefore not been emptied of residents.
Continued bombardment, however, had left them unstable, the source underlined, citing Shaqra and towns along the western edges of Wadi al-Hujair.
Demolitions and airstrikes
On Saturday, Israeli artillery targeted Wadi al-Slouqi near Shaqra and the outskirts of Zawtar al-Sharqiya. Heavy airstrikes also hit Jabal al-Rafi and Rihan between Iqlim al-Tuffah and Jezzine district, with explosions heard as far away as Sidon and surrounding areas.
Three strikes using high-impact missiles hit the outskirts of Sejoud, with the blasts heard as far as Zahrani.
In the western sector, Israeli forces shelled Mansouri, Majdal Zoun and Wadi Hassan. A powerful Israeli demolition rocked Tiri, while another heavy blast struck Majdal Zoun.
An Israeli force was also reported to have advanced into olive groves on the southern outskirts of Deir Mimas in Marjayoun district.
Israeli forces carried out further heavy demolitions overnight Friday into Saturday in Baraachit, Hadatha and around Beit Yahoun.
