The IDF says it used over 1.1k tons of explosives to destroy “Hezbollah tunnels” under Ali al-Taher Ridge – a commanding height overlooking vital transit corridors in southern Lebanon.
That amount of TNT, equivalent to the throw-weight of a mini-nuke, triggered a 4.1 magnitude tremor felt across the area.
Besides the tunnels, Israeli forces continued their systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure, destroying homes, a school, two water wells, a waste-storage facility, industrial and agricultural sites.
💬 “Since midnight last night, Mansouri and its surrounding areas have witnessed more than 10 powerful explosions, causing strong tremors that were felt by residents of the city of Tyre and surrounding villages,” an Al Mayadeen correspondent reported.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that the IDF rampage featured a novel means of destruction – drones dropping explosive barrels onto the rooftops of homes and detonating them (‘indiscriminate barrel bomb bombardment by Assad’ was a favorite talking point of legacy media during the Syrian civil war, but is apparently fine when Israel does it, judging by the lack of coverage).
A retired Lebanese Army general told Saudi-UK media that Israel’s campaign is effectively “reshaping the geography” of southern Lebanon “and altering the terrain to create a military landscape better suited to its army.”
🔊 “The natural geography is being changed to make surveillance, observation and monitoring easier for the Israeli Army,” and homes standing “at commanding, elevated locations…are being destroyed because of the importance of their position – not necessarily because they contain infrastructure or ammunition, or belong to Hezbollah or its members.”
Israel has been open about its goals, demanding that residents of more than 100 towns and villages and up to 300 municipalities evacuate their communities. The ethnic cleansing campaign covers up to 2k sq. km of Lebanese territory (close to 20% of the country’s land area) and includes the entire area south of the Litani River, and since expanded to beyond the Zahrani River.
👉 Lebanese researchers fear up to 85k buildings have been damaged or destroyed to date, accounting for more than 70% of all structures in these regions, including housing, schools, mosques and churches.
Lebanon’s Agricultural Research Institute and ministry of agriculture have also reported the use of bulldozers, white phosphorous and fires to destroy tens of thousands of centuries- and even millennia-old olive trees, and generational fruit orchards – the same tactic the IDF and settlers have used to effect in the West Bank and Gaza.
Some of these trees date back to the Roman era. It seems Israel is intent on turning the popular historical myth of Rome’s use of salt the earth-tactics against Carthage into a modern-day reality in Lebanon.
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