Numerous videos show the destruction of homes and infrastructure in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli army has announced plans to create a “defense zone”. Our Observers, several of whom wanted to return home thanks to the ceasefire, describe empty villages and razed homes.

Published on: 04/24/2026 - 6:08 p.m. Modified on: 04/28/2026 - 10:58 a.m.

An excavator tears open the roof while two bulldozers finish tearing down the still standing walls. In a few minutes, the house collapsed, piece by piece, in a cloud of dust. The scene takes place in Naqoura, a village bordering Israel in southern Lebanon, on April 13, 2026.

It was on his phone that Bernard Farhat, now a refugee in Beirut, saw his house disappear. Originally from Naqoura, he left the area when the area was emptied of its inhabitants in the face of the advance of the Israeli army.

“This house took my parents more than ten years to build”

"This is not the first time that we have lost a house. In the 1980s, my family was already displaced. I was born in Naqoura in 1987, and for me it is not just a village, it is a refuge, it is my entire childhood. My parents took more than ten years to build this house, little by little, every week. At the beginning, I saw videos of destroyed houses and I said to myself that it was perhaps linked to activities of the Israeli army around And then one day, I saw my house On April 13, I received videos where we see three bulldozers demolishing it, two in front, one on the side, breaking it up piece by piece. The area was already empty, there were no more inhabitants, only the Israeli army since the end of March. rest, and above all the last link I had with my father, who died in 2019. Today, there is nothing left, just stones."

Since the beginning of March 2026, southern Lebanon has been the scene of ground operations carried out by the Israeli army in the context of escalating tensions with Hezbollah.

Officially, Israel says it wants to keep fighters from the Lebanese Shiite party away from its border and prevent any reinstallation of military positions near its territory. But these operations are accompanied by the destruction of numerous civilian homes in several border localities. The army claims to target Hezbollah infrastructure, often located in civilian areas.

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On April 19, the Israeli army announced the establishment of a "yellow line" in southern Lebanon, presented as the demarcation of a security zone aimed at preventing any presence of Hezbollah near its troops.

In Naqoura, but also in villages like Bint Jbeil, Aïnata or Rabb el-Thalathine, images broadcast online show explosions in buildings sometimes located far from active combat zones.

Despite the presence of UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura, residential buildings have been destroyed in recent weeks. On April 4, several beachfront homes were pulverized, sending debris into deserted streets. The scene was filmed by UN surveillance cameras.

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Numerous videos show demolitions in several villages in the south, such as Aïnata, Jubbayn or Rabb el-Thalathine.

“Hezbollah fighters told us to leave to give them room”

Following the announcement of the ceasefire with Israel on April 16, many residents wanted to return to their land, like our Observer Samar, a resident of the Tire region.

"We left Beirut at 6 a.m. on April 18, 2026, we arrived in Tire around 4 p.m. because of traffic jams. On the road, we crossed the Qasmiyeh bridge, which had been bombed, there was still a huge cavity which had been filled in. But when I arrived, I did not recognize the South. I saw a lot of flags of Hezbollah and Iran, portraits of fighters, and even sellers who were offering these flags at the side of the road. There were no Lebanese flags. The South is almost empty. There is not much normal life. There is not much service, electricity is available for a few hours a day, Hezbollah fighters told us to leave to give them room.

Since March 2, the Israeli army has successively destroyed four of the main bridges on the Litani River, which crosses southern Lebanon. The latest was the Qasmiyeh bridge, the same one that our Observer took to return home.

“A drone ordered us to turn around”

Abou Karim, a farmer from the border village of Houla in southern Lebanon, tried to return home after the ceasefire was put in place.

"As soon as a ceasefire was announced, I wanted to come back. I love this land; I am a farmer, my whole life is here. At the time of the truce, it was said that the roads were open and that the army had secured them. But in reality, the bridges were destroyed. I crossed the damaged Qaquaiya bridge, without any presence to organize traffic. We had to take alternative routes, and it took us many hours to move forward. My village, Houla, is more than 70% destroyed, houses burned, roads impassable. Even the agricultural lands have been devastated. The furthest point I could reach was the villages of Shaqra and Majdal Selm. left. There is no real ceasefire, only on paper. When I was in Shaqra, I saw heavy Israeli machines, bulldozers, tanks They were destroying and burning houses, roads, infrastructure... even the trees of the village of Houla, located about two kilometers away. They are completely changing the characteristics of the terrain. our land. Today, there are entire villages that no one can access. They can destroy the houses, burn the trees, but they will not be able to take away our will. We will rebuild and replant.

“A destruction that goes beyond military objectives”

According to several sources, the area that the Israeli army wants to clear would cover between 55 and 70 villages. Some localities are still partially inhabited, according to Lebanese sociologist Ahmed Baydoun.

For Ahmed Baydoun, the destruction observed cannot be explained solely by military objectives:

"The Israeli army claims to be destroying Hezbollah's infrastructure, but in reality, we see entire villages being destroyed, notably in Bint Jbeil, Aïnata and in other localities. In some cases, it is a systematic destruction. We also observe that in certain villages with a Christian majority, inhabitants have remained. Nobody knows how long this situation will last, but we can wonder if this area is destined to remain empty of inhabitants, or even to be integrated into de facto Israel, as happened in the Syrian Golan, there is the impression that the model applied in Gaza, with a buffer zone emptied of its population, is being reproduced in southern Lebanon.

According to Israeli sources, several hundred structures were destroyed in this region.

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