Explosives, bulldozers, and tunnels: how Israel systematically razed Lebanese border villages to counter potential future attacks from Hezbollah
The tenuous ceasefire agreed upon between Israel and Hezbollah last month is still in effect.
But satellite imagery shows that at least 46 of 54 towns and villages within the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “Yellow Line” in southern Lebanon have been heavily damaged or, in some cases, entirely flattened.
Much of the destruction and demolition has taken place in recent weeks.
Bellingcat’s satellite imagery analysis examined towns and villages identified on OpenStreetMap, a community-driven map database. Medium resolution PlanetScope satellite imagery covering each of the locations was provided by Planet Labs, a US company that recently restricted some of its imagery in the Middle East.
Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, is reported to have stated that “all homes in Lebanese villages near the border will be destroyed — in accordance with the Rafah and Beit Hanoun model in Gaza”. The aim, Katz said, is to “remove, once and for all, the threats near the border”. Israel has adopted similar methods of flattening buildings and homes close to Israel’s border in Gaza.
The large-scale destruction in southern Lebanon has been reported by multiple outlets including the BBC, CNN, SkyNews and The New York Times. These reports have shared images from several towns and villages, but Bellingcat is publishing satellite imagery for the entirety of southern Lebanon. The changes between the two dates show the scale and pace of destruction.
The area occupied by the IDF since a ceasefire was agreed between Hezbollah and Israel on April 16 — some towns were reported already destroyed or heavily damaged during the 2024 Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon. Some — like the coastal border town of Naqoura or the southeastern border town of Kfar Kila — have now been largely demolished. This is visible in both the medium-resolution PlanetScope imagery, and in high-resolution imagery obtained from Airbus by the BBC.
Everything south of Lebanon’s Litani and Zahrani Rivers has been under evacuation orders issued by the IDF since early March, with regular updates warning residents to leave ahead of airstrikes.
Much of the destruction within the appears to be from either controlled demolitions using explosives or construction vehicles. The IDF has shared numerous videos showing large-scale demolitions conducted in the towns and villages in southern Lebanon, while videos shared elsewhere on social media show the aftermath — large parts of towns like Beit Lif or Kheim reduced to rubble.
One particularly large explosion took place in the small village of Qantara, where the IDF says it found two large tunnel systems built by Hezbollah.
The tunnels were detonated with 450 tonnes of explosives, leaving large parts of the village obliterated. Another video released by the IDF showed some of the few remaining buildings in the nearby village of Aadashit being demolished with explosives. The IDF claimed the buildings were Hezbollah infrastructure.
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