Destruction in Lebanon: Israeli military razes southern towns

The road into occupied southern Lebanon cuts through a landscape of destruction. Homes reduced to rubble, streets are barely recognizable. This is just a glimpse from one road. From above, the scale becomes clearer. These satellite images show the scale of destruction. Israel has been carrying out airstrikes and demolitions, leaving entire neighborhoods in ruins. Some villages, such as Nakoura, Deheira, Marouhine, Beit Leif, Maroun al-Ras and Mhaibib, among others, have been entirely erased and reduced to rubble, while others are nearly wiped out. But counting destroyed buildings tells only part of the story. They are also losing the history they held. In Mansouri, these pictures document the change. This was the village during the first wave of attacks. And this is how it looks now. Buildings that survived the initial bombardment have since disappeared. Beyond the buildings, the land that sustained these communities is also being damaged. Hospitals, libraries, schools, residential area, anything that is standing up is being destroyed. We consider this as an urban genocide, as a form of urban genocide. Israel says what it calls its buffer zone protects northern communities from infiltration and anti-tank fire. Defense Minister Israel Katz said troops had destroyed every building in tens of Lebanese villages, accusing the residents of acting for Hezbollah. He also said the zone would be cleared of residents. The destruction reached even into heritage sites and cemeteries. Here, satellite images show a shrine and graveyard in the village of Shema. Israeli forces destroyed the shrine of Shemaun and Safa, revered by Muslims and Christians alike, and linked in local tradition to Simon Peter. The domed shrine dates back almost a thousand years, on a site with roots in Roman times. What Israel is doing in South Lebanon is monstrous. monstrous. It's barbaric. But it's part of a deliberate strategy. And that is to create what it calls in South Lebanon, like in Gaza, a death zone. It is the living resistance of the land, human, plant, animal, the cultivators, the indigenous, those that make the land alive. And these resistant ecologies are now the target of the Israeli war machine. And that is why they're destroying everything. The destruction also left the medieval citadel of Shema in ruins, a site under UNESCO's enhanced protection and nominated for World Heritage status. It's a systematic destruction with consequences that will outlast occupation. Despite being totally obliterated, people of these villages still refer to the places as their home, even though no homes are left. Ali Hashem, Al Jazeera