The ceasefire “ending” the Israeli invasion of Lebanon went into effect in late November of 2024. Normally, that would usher in a period of reconstruction in the former war zone. That reconstruction has been challenged at every step, however, by Israeli attacks.
Deliberate attacks on civilian construction vehicles have been the order of the day. In October, one such attack destroyed a lot full of heavy machinery for reconstruction, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.
That’s just the big one though, among Israel’s near daily attacks, the IDF regularly attacks vehicles actively engaged in reconstruction, killing people clearing farm fields or trying to save the buildings destroyed in the war. That’s actually a war crime, Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted.
Recent photo of destruction in Ain Baal, Southern Lebanon ©MSF
The new report from HRW details what has been a persistent problem for southern Lebanese. Many towns and villages remain largely untouched since the war, and some people say that a year later they’re afraid to even try to remove the rubble from the streets because the vehicle removing the rubble would be targeted by Israel.
History suggests that probably would be the case, as Israel has made a habit of targeting anyone and everyone with a function vehicle in southern Lebanon, and anything that looks like post-war cleanup gets attacked and spun as “Hezbollah repairing terror infrastructure” by the official statements.
Between the lack of coordinated reconstruction and the constant Israeli strikes, for many in the south it seems like the war never really ended. That’s an issue not only because southern Lebanon remains a warzone, but because Israel is forever threatening a “new” war on Lebanon.
This raises the obvious question of how we’re meant to know the new war has begun, because Israel escalates the old war constantly. Israeli hawks are claiming in the media that the US is “reining in” those ambitions, but since deadly attacks remain a constant in Lebanon, it’s impossible to know what this actually entails.
The suggestion is that but for US intervention, Israel would’ve launched a new war already, but that the US insisted that they settle for just escalating the current war with more and more strikes. It appears a distinction without a difference, at least for the Lebanese, but gives the US an appearance of being less involved.
That could be complicated too, however, because the HRW report makes a point to note that some of these very real war crimes are being conducted with US munitions. Given the breadth of Israel’s wars, it’s hardly the only time this is the case, but it’s another unpleasant reminder that, when a war crime is being committed, America is once again involved.
