Tag: lebanon

Beirut Rocked By Israeli Airstrikes After Month Of Quiet, 14 Dead

For several days, the Israelis have been warning of new military strikes on Lebanon’s capital. People have been seen flooding out of the southern suburbs which have been a historic stronghold of Hezbollah support.

Amid ongoing ground fighting between IDF and Hezbollah forces in the south, Thursday finally saw heavy airstrikes on the capital. “An Israeli strike hit a building in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital on Thursday, killing at least 14 people, the first strike to hit near Beirut in weeks amid a ceasefire that has failed to halt fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah in south Lebanon,” Reuters reports.

Follow-up reporting indicates the death toll across the nation amid the flare-up in bombing raids is at 16 and counting, amid emergency crews picking through the rubble:

At least 16 people have been killed and 58 wounded in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese health authorities, as Israel intensifies its assault and issues mass displacement orders across the region.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported on Thursday that six of the victims belonged to the same family. They were killed in an Israeli drone strike while trying to flee at dawn along the Adloun Highway, a key route linking Sidon and Tyre, it said.

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The mainstream media is ignoring Israel’s role in the killing of journalist Amal Khalil

Amal Khalil was a brave Lebanese reporter who for the past two decades has reported from the often dangerous southern part of her country for the Al-Akhbar daily newspaper. On April 22, while doing her job, she died in agony — and there is compelling evidence that the Israeli military murdered her. She was 43 years old.

But once again, the mainstream U.S. media is guilty of sickening malpractice. Journalists are supposed to make special efforts to follow the story when their colleagues are killed in action, but the leading American cable news networks, so far, have mostly not reported her death at all. On MS NOW, the more progressive outlet, nothing on air. Ditto for CNN, (although the network’s “CNN International” subdivision did air a 2:16 report — which most American subscribers will have missed). Neither did the major legacy TV networks cover the story: nothing on ABC, NBC, or CBS.

(There was one honorable exception, on the PBS News Hour. Geoff Bennett raised the killing of Amal Khalil in an interview with Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, and pressed Danon hard.)

Here’s what actually happened. Back in 2024, Amal Khalil had already received death threats from an Israeli media commentator with close ties to the military, who warned her to leave southern Lebanon. On April 22, 2026 she was reporting near the village of al-Tiri when an Israeli air strike hit the vehicle in front of her. As usual, she had been wearing protective equipment that clearly identified her as a journalist. She and a fellow reporter took refuge in a nearby home. That reporter, Zeinab Faraj, told the Associated Press “Amal was crawling, she was wounded — her nose and head and shoulder and leg.” Both women were able to speak by phone to family and other colleagues. 

Then, a second Israeli air strike hit their refuge. Rescue workers got to her colleague, but the Union of Journalists in Lebanon charges that Israeli forces used stun grenades to prevent further efforts to free Amal. She continued to lay in that rubble for hours, surely in pain. Six hours later, the rescuers finally got through. But she had already died.

Back to the mainstream U.S. media. Unlike television news, newspapers did not entirely ignore the killing of Amal Khalil, but their coverage was mostly minimal, with — so far — little or no follow-up. One New York Times report especially stood out for its grotesque contortions to try and hide the compelling evidence that the Israeli military had prevented her rescuers from saving her. 

The sub-headline to Max Bearak’s April 23 report telegraphed the paper’s concealment strategy. “Mourners paid respects to Amal Khalil, who remained trapped under rubble for hours before emergency medics recovered her body.” You had to read all the way down to the 7th paragraph to learn who had actually “trapped” her, and was stopping those “emergency medics.” And, astonishingly, here was the explanatory sentence: “The Israeli military denied in a statement that it had prevented rescuers from reaching the injured journalists, and said the incident was under investigation.”

This is quite extraordinary. The New York Times is reporting Israel’s denial before it even bothers to tell you what the charge is. 

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Residents flee southern Beirut after Netanyahu orders escalation against Hezbollah

Following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for escalation in strikes against Hezbollah, an AFP correspondent reports residents fleeing the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Lebanese security sources also tell Reuters that residents are evacuating.

Except for a strike targeting a Hezbollah commander in the area earlier this month, there have been no strikes on Beirut or its surroundings since the April 16 truce.

Netanyahu did not say in his video message whether Israel planned to resume broader attacks in Beirut.

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‘Buffer Zone’ Is Media’s Euphemism for Israeli Occupation

Since October 2023, Israel has occupied vast stretches of territory in Gaza, Syria and, most recently, Lebanon. Corporate media have been reluctant to use clear, direct language to characterize US-backed Israeli land grabs in each of these places, preferring to describe Israel’s policies with euphemistic terminology.

“Buffer” is chief among these. For instance, a Wall Street Journal article (4/9/26) told readers that “Israeli forces now hold buffer zones inside Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.”

Merriam-Webster defines a “buffer zone” as “a neutral area separating conflicting forces.” The UN defines it as “neutral space created by the withdrawal of hostile parties or a demilitarized zone.”

The Journal‘s uncritical use of the term makes it sound as if these Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian lands are demilitarized zones, when in reality they have been taken over by a belligerent foreign army that intends to remain for the long term.

A Boston Globe piece (4/5/26) noted that

Israel has said even after the war with Hezbollah, it plans to occupy part of southern Lebanon, setting up a buffer zone inside the area and keeping security control over the territory. Some analysts say that the move could lead to the permanent displacement of communities from the region.

“Setting up” is part of the same obfuscatory process as “buffer zone.” Amnesty International’s Kristine Beckerle (3/6/26) offered this account of the evacuation orders Israel issued to over 100 villages and towns in Lebanon’s south and east, and the entirety of Beirut’s southern suburbs, key components of how Israel has gone about “setting up a buffer zone”:

The sweeping evacuation orders have sown panic and terror, displaced hundreds of thousands of people and fueled yet another humanitarian catastrophe for a population already exhausted and reeling from multiple crises.

And it’s not just “some analysts” who say that creating this “buffer” could lead to “permanent displacement.” Israeli Defense minister Israel Katz (BBC, 3/31/26) said that the state plans to maintain control over Lebanon south of the Litani River, a 19-mile stretch of territory, even after Israel’s current war on the country ends. Katz added that Israel will demolish “all houses” in Lebanese villages near the Lebanon/Israel armistice line, a move that would make the displacement of the residents of those houses seem awfully permanent. That’s not a “buffer zone”—that’s occupation.

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Israeli soldiers jailed for desecrating Virgin Mary statue

Two Israeli soldiers were sentenced to several weeks in military prison for desecrating a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said.

Last week, a photo surfaced showing a service member hugging the statue in the predominantly Christian village of Debel, near the Israeli border, and placing a cigarette in the statue’s mouth. The image sparked outrage on social media and prompted an official investigation.

On Monday, IDF spokeswoman Ariella Mazor said the soldier posing with the statue and the soldier filming him were sentenced to 21 and 14 days behind bars, respectively.

“The IDF views the incident with great severity and respects freedom of religion and worship, as well as holy sites and religious symbols of all religions and communities,” Mazor wrote on X.

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Soaring Death Toll In Lebanon As Full-Fledged Israel, Hezbollah Fighting Returns

Full-fledged war has returned to Lebanon as the government has announced that at least 23 people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes on Saturday alone. 

Stretching back into Friday, this brings the total death count to at least 50 killed over the past 24 hours of Israeli bombings, also as Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) late on Saturday said rescue operations were still ongoing for bystanders missing underneath the rubble.

Heavy bombing has not ceased in southern Lebanon, as the Israeli military says it’s trying to root out and destroy Hezbollah, including raids on the districts of Nabatieh, Bint Jbeil and Sidon, among others. Several were also killed in Tyre on Friday.

But Israeli forces have also absorbed casualties, with The Times of Israel describing the following serious drone strikes launched from Lebanon:

On Saturday, the terror group launched several salvos of explosive-laden drones and rockets at Israeli forces. One drone struck Israeli territory, close to the border with Lebanon, seriously injuring a reservist soldier and moderately wounding a reservist officer and another reservist soldier.

The troops were taken to Galilee Medical Center, which said the seriously wounded soldier underwent surgery and was now stable in the intensive care unit. The moderately wounded troops were scheduled for surgery later.

In another incident, the military said an explosive drone struck an unmanned engineering vehicle in southern Lebanon, causing damage. No injuries were caused.

There are reports of the IDF issuing evacuation orders for various areas, only to attack the so-called safe zones. For example the below comes via Israeli sources:

“In light of the Hezbollah terror organization’s violations of the ceasefire agreement, the IDF is forced to act against it with force and does not intend to harm you,” warned army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee.

Meanwhile, Lebanese media reported that Israeli airstrikes on Saturday killed at least 12 people, including in areas where no evacuation orders were issued.

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Israel strikes Beirut for first time in almost a month; Netanyahu, Katz say target was Radwan Force chief

Israel carries out its first strike in Beirut since before the ceasefire in Lebanon entered into effect on April 16, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz saying it targeted the commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.

“The IDF has just struck in Beirut the commander of the Radwan Force in the Hezbollah terror organization to eliminate him,” the joint statement says.

Netanyahu and Katz say Radwan Force operatives “were responsible for firing [rockets] at Israeli communities and harming IDF soldiers.”

“No terrorist has immunity, Israel’s long arm will reach every enemy and murderer. We promised to bring security to the residents of the north. This is how we act, and this is how we will continue to act,” they add.

The IDF has yet to issue a comment on the rare strike in the Lebanese capital, the first in almost a month, with the last having been on April 8. Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire on April 16.

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IDF probes video showing soldiers destroying solar panels in Christian-Lebanese village

The IDF has launched an investigation into a video in which Israeli soldiers are seen destroying solar panels in a village in Lebanon, Israeli media reported on Saturday night.

The destruction took place in the village of Debel, the same village in which an IDF soldier was photographed smashing a statue of Jesus last week.

KAN also reported that the solar panels were civilian infrastructure, being used by hundreds of residents of the village who had not been evacuated from their homes, with the IDF’s permission.

“The actions seen in the video are not in line with the IDF‘s values and the conduct expected of its soldiers,” the IDF told KAN. “The incident is under investigation. Based on its findings, command measures will be taken accordingly.”

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Lebanon’s Recurring Nightmare

Once upon a time there was a magical little country named Lebanon. It was created by French imperialists out of the post-World War 1 wreckage of the Ottoman Empire as a mountainous stronghold for Levantine Maronite and Orthodox Christians.

Imperial Russia sought to assert its influence as defender of Lebanon’s Christians. The British and French thwarted Russia’s efforts and created two new states, Syria and Jordan. After the war, Israel was created by Britain. Some 750,000 Arabs who had been living in what was known as Palestine and Syria were driven from their homes by Jewish settlers. The Levant’s map was redrawn. What was to have been an Arab state was annexed by an expanding Israel and British-influenced Jordan, with little Lebanon sitting amid the geopolitical leftovers. Sixty percent of Jordan’s population was Palestinian. Nearly 60% of Lebanon’s population was Sunni and Shiite Muslim. The rest was Orthodox, Catholic, Druze and Armenian.

In 1975 I landed in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, just in time for the first day of the 15 year long civil war that tore that nation apart and killed up to 200,000. All the pressures and hatreds that had been building up across multiethnic Lebanon exploded into one of the ugliest, most sadistic conflicts I had seen as a long-time war correspondent.

Women and children and unarmed men were routinely massacred. Rape, which was rare in the Muslim world, was used to punish Muslims. Torture of all sorts was a daily horror. Maronite Christians became crazed killers. One former business associate, who owned a chain of successful perfume shops, turned into the knife-wielding chief of the Maronite-Phalangist combat group. He boasted to me about the many Muslims he had killed. He offered to show me his collection of Muslim ears. This from a Paris-educated gentleman who had just previously been selling Chanel perfume.

Muslims battled Maronites; Druze fought Shiites; Armenians fought Muslims; Sunnis battled Druzes. It became a madhouse of slaughter and hatred, and then Israel invaded. Israel’s plan – as it is today – to annex parts of southern Lebanon. I was with the Israeli Army when it attacked the key town of Nabatiyeh. Its Shia citizens were celebrating their high Day of Ashura as Israeli mechanized troops burst through the worshippers spraying them with gunfire.

Until then, the Shia Muslim movement Hezbollah had been cooperating with Israel. Now, they began firing at their former allies. Before long, Israel’s all-powerful information machine and its US allies branded the Shia movement ‘terrorist.’ Hezbollah became Israel’s enemy number one – where it remains today even after Israel assassinated Hezbollah’s leadership.

Into this maelstrom charged the Reagan administration. 220 Marines and 18 American sailors stationed at the Beirut Embassy were killed by a large truck bomb. They had no business being in the midst of Lebanon’s civil war.

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IDF escalates efforts to prevent civilian return to southern Lebanon after ceasefire

The next big “battle” for southern Lebanon has started, though it is one that does not involve bombs or rockets.

As of April 17, the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire had kicked in. By Sunday, large numbers of Lebanese civilians attempted to return to southern Lebanon, despite IDF instructions not to.

Foreign media reports and social media showed videos and included interviews of Lebanese civilians using a variety of makeshift means to cross the Litani River into southern Lebanon, even at points where the IDF had destroyed the existing bridges.

Some said that they succeeded in reaching their villages and found significant amounts of damage.

Others said that though they were able to get into southern Lebanon, the IDF blocked the road to their village or used warning fire to make them turn back.

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