Updated
Updated · Middle East Eye · Aug 22
Israeli Forces Fire Phosphorus Shells Across Southern Lebanon as Air Strikes Hit 7 Areas
Updated
Updated · Middle East Eye · Aug 22

Israeli Forces Fire Phosphorus Shells Across Southern Lebanon as Air Strikes Hit 7 Areas

3 articles · Updated · Middle East Eye · Aug 22

Summary

  • Lebanese state media said Israeli forces fired phosphorus shells and launched overnight air strikes and heavy artillery attacks across at least seven areas in southern Lebanon into early Saturday.
  • Mansouri, Bayt al-Sayyad and Majdal Zoun were heavily hit, while two warplane strikes targeted Ali al-Taher hill near Nabatieh al-Fawqa and artillery shelled nearby outskirts and wooded areas.
  • Bayt al-Sayyad suffered extensive housing damage, with NNA saying no house was left undamaged; drones also kept flying over villages in the western and central sectors.
  • The reported phosphorus use revives earlier rights-group warnings, including 2024 Human Rights Watch imagery showing white phosphorus hitting residential buildings in southern Lebanese border villages.
  • International law prohibits airburst white phosphorus over densely populated civilian areas because it can cause indiscriminate harm, severe burns and respiratory injuries.

Insights

Are the strikes in southern Lebanon targeting militants, or systematically clearing civilians to permanently alter the region's borders?
With over a million displaced and war crime allegations mounting, will international courts intervene in the escalating Lebanon crisis?
Why is a U.S.-backed ceasefire failing to stop the creation of a massive 'no-return' buffer zone in southern Lebanon?