The fragile ceasefire agreement in force in Lebanon since April 17 faces the specter of complete collapse under the weight of the ongoing ground and air attacks by the Israeli occupation army, which culminated in violent raids on the districts of Nabatieh, Bint Jbeil and Sidon.
This escalation on the ground coincides with the release of an extensive human rights investigation by Amnesty International documenting the expansion of Israel's so-called "forward defence zone" to cover 6% of the country's territory, considering the evacuation of civilians and preventing them from returning as an illegal transfer amounting to a "war crime".
Israeli ground incursion into Bint Jbeil and Nabatieh districts
According to field reports, warplanes and drones launched a series of intensive raids, accompanied by heavy artillery shelling that focused night until morning on the "Ali al-Taher" area on the outskirts of the town of Nabatieh al-Fuqa, and several shells fell in the vicinity of the "Nabih Berri Governmental Hospital", and the neighborhoods of "Al-Midan" and "Nuns" in the city of Nabatieh, in addition to targeting the vicinity of Dar al-Muallemin at the intersection of Nabatieh - Nabatieh al-Fuqa, and the areas of Qatrani and Sajd in Jezzine.
On the ground level, attempts by Israeli vehicles were monitored towards the town of "Haddaha" in the Bint Jbeil district, amid information about another attempt to advance through the town of "Kafr Tibnit" in the Nabatieh district, whose eastern outskirts and the neighboring locality of "Zafata-Mansoura" were subjected to successive airstrikes.
The drones also targeted the towns of Al-Mansouri and Al-Aziya in the district of Sur with three raids that resulted in injuries, and another raid targeted the town of Barashait in the district of Bint Jbeil, while a shooting was recorded on a car on the outskirts of Kafr Shuba (Al-Ain locality), which resulted in the fall of one person. In the capital Beirut and its southern suburbs, drones and warplanes continued to fly intensively and at low levels, carrying out mock raids over the region of Tuffah and Nabatieh.
Civilians killed in Mifdon and Shokin
In the neighboring towns of Mifdoun and Shokin, Israeli drones targeted three civilian vehicles, killing four civilians, bringing the total death toll since the announcement of the US-Iran agreement to end the war between the two countries to five, the highest toll since the agreement came into force.
In the aftermath of this, the municipality of "Kafr Rumman" issued a statement calling on residents not to go to the town for the time being pending the issuance of the official position from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nabih Berri, while the Iranian "Headquarters of the Seal of the Prophets" promised the Israeli army a "harsh response" if the attacks continue, stressing that 84 Israeli violations of the ceasefire have been monitored since the issuance of the memorandum of understanding, amid the ambiguity surrounding Tel Aviv's position and its officials' criticism of the US president's warnings calling for a comprehensive withdrawal.
Amnesty International: Emptying the South and Expanding the 'No Return' Zone
Amnesty International has released a new and comprehensive investigation revealing that the Israeli military has radically expanded its use of illegal "mass evictions" and "non-return" orders in Lebanon in 2026 compared to 2024, considering these practices to be a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention, and amounting to "unlawful transfer", which is a war crime.
According to a report published today, the Israeli occupation army published a map 3 days after the ceasefire issued on April 17, 2026, which it called the "Forward Defense" area, covering 6% of Lebanon's area (about 600 km² by land and sea including 74 villages), compared to 4.6% (480 km² including 68 villages) in the November 2024 map.
The report said that satellite imagery accurately showed that almost all buildings along the border had been cleared and leveled to the ground and that the severe destruction had expanded to a greater depth, emptying large parts of the south of its population and destroying its infrastructure and agriculture (especially the olive fields, which make up a third of Lebanon's crop).
According to the report, the organization's Crisis Evidence Lab analyzed 447 orders posted through the Israeli spokesperson's account on the X platform between September 2024 and May 31, 2026, including 135 "mass evictions" orders in 2026 alone (76% of which were directed to southern Lebanon, 15% to the southern suburbs, and 5% to the Bekaa).
Live Testimonies and Political Positions on Displacement
Christine Beckerly, deputy director of the organization's regional office, noted that Israel has not associated its orders with any measures to ensure the safety of civilians or provide guidance on where they have fled, and has never rescinded these orders even after the cessation of hostilities, calling on the international community to press for a sustainable ceasefire, the suspension of arms shipments to Israel, and the immediate return of one million displaced people (according to Lebanese Ministry of Social Affairs statistics for 2026, compared to only 64,000 displaced people in 2024).
In an Israeli military response to the organization, it claimed that it had not issued mandatory orders, calling them "warning recommendations," claiming that there was no ban on return, which contradicted Israeli War Minister Yisrael Katz's statement on June 15, in which he confirmed that Israeli forces "will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza indefinitely," and that these border villages "will be evacuated of the local population and infrastructure."
The report relayed tragic testimonies of displaced people who described the systematic collapse of services, the razing of old cemeteries, and the forced to beg for permission for only 10 minutes under the flight of marches to bury their relatives in towns completely devoid of any signs of life. The Lebanese Ministry of Health has documented the deaths of more than 3,700 people since the war escalated on March 2 until June 12, 2026, as a result of the continued exchange of attacks.
Comments (0)