Displaced Lebanese Watch Israeli Demolitions Erase Their Village

Men and children gathered at a vantage point in Hanniyeh on Friday, watching smoke rise over their home village of Mansouri in southern Lebanon as Israeli drones carried boxes of explosives to be dropped on houses.

For the displaced residents, the scene has become a daily routine. Having fled Mansouri weeks ago, they now observe its destruction from the neighbouring village, debating which neighbour's home has been levelled and searching the dust clouds for signs of their own.

Early on Friday, the Israeli military detonated the village's public school, Lebanese state media reported. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the demolitions.

Active fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has eased since the two sides entered a truce in June, yet the destruction of villages across southern Lebanon continues. It remains unclear why the Israeli military is demolishing Mansouri.

Many residents left when the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began in March, returning after the June truce, only to flee again when the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for the village last month and resumed strikes. Israel said at the time it was responding to ceasefire violations by Hezbollah.

Some of the displaced have been taken in by relatives, while others are sheltering in school buildings in the nearby city of Tyre.

Speaking from a distance, Ali Hussein Ghanem, a tobacco farmer staying with relatives in Hanniyeh along with his wife and children, questioned the Lebanese state's role. "Isn't the state supposed to protect our town rather than hand it over to Israel?" he said.

Wissam Khashabi, a beekeeper from the same village, echoed that frustration. "We are seeing our land being destroyed," he said. "We have lost our property, our orchards, and all our livelihoods. The state is not really doing anything."

He added that residents were uncertain whether they would ever be able to return, appealing to officials in southern Lebanon and to the Lebanese government to find solutions or at least clarify whether any exist.

Elsewhere in southern Lebanon, Israeli officials said on Thursday that they had blown up Hezbollah tunnel networks beneath the strategic Ali Taher ridge near the town of Nabatiyeh, with the force of the blasts shaking the ground in surrounding areas. The Israeli military said the ridge contained extensive underground infrastructure built by Hezbollah and had been the site of recent clashes before Israel announced it had taken "operational control" of it.

The latest conflict began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets across the border, two days after Israel and the United States launched a war on Iran. The Israeli military now occupies large areas of southern Lebanon.

Lebanon and Israel reached a framework agreement in June under which Israel would withdraw from Lebanon as Hezbollah is disarmed, but implementation has stalled. With negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, and between the United States and Iran, at an impasse, no political solution is in sight that would allow the displaced to return home. Lebanese and Israeli officials are expected to meet for another round of talks in Rome later this month.