Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon resulted in the deaths of at least seven individuals and injuries to several others on Saturday. Simultaneously, the Israeli military razed sections of a Catholic convent in a border village, as confirmed by officials. The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for residents of nine southern villages on the same day. Despite a ceasefire in place since April 17, Israel and the militant Hezbollah group from Lebanon, supported by Iran, continued their hostilities.
In Yaroun, a border village, Israel’s military utilized bulldozers to demolish parts of a Catholic convent that had been unoccupied due to recent conflicts. Sister Gladys Sabbagh, the superior general of the Basilian Salvatorian Sisters, stated that the convent, which also housed a school closed since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war and a recently relocated clinic, was destroyed by bulldozers. The convent, a small compound where only two nuns resided before leaving due to the war, lacked detailed information as Yaroun’s residents were displaced.
Disputing the Israeli military’s account, the Catholic Church in Lebanon rejected allegations that the compound had military purposes. Rev. Abdo Abou Kassm, director of the Catholic Center for Information, emphasized that places of worship and churches promote peace, love, and education, not military activities.
Recent events in southern Lebanon included Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah attacks, with reports from Lebanon’s National News Agency indicating casualties from airstrikes in various villages. The Israeli military conducted approximately 50 airstrikes targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and members over the past 24 hours, as stated by Lt.-Col. Ella Waweya, the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for using a drone to target Israeli troops gathering inside a house in Bayed. The Israeli army had been demolishing neighborhoods near the Lebanese-Israeli border in recent weeks, citing them as outposts utilized by the Iran-backed group.
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah commenced on March 2 when Hezbollah launched rockets into northern Israel, following actions by the United States and Israel against Iran, its main supporter. Israel has conducted numerous airstrikes and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon since then. The two adversaries, in a state of war since Israel’s establishment in 1948, engaged in direct talks for the first time in over thirty years. A ceasefire declared in Washington on April 17 was extended by three weeks after its initial ten-day duration.
According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, since the conflict’s onset two months ago, 2,659 individuals have lost their lives, and 8,183 have sustained injuries.