The “progress” in last week’s Rome talks on Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon left the situation without any timetable, and as Israel continues to escalate strikes against southern Lebanon, all indications are that they’re prepping for an open-ended occupation of the region.
Israeli newspapers are now reporting that the IDF is establishing another line of “permanent” military bases inside Lebanon to complement the ones that they were already illegally occupying before March’s invasion began. The exact locations of the new bases are as yet not public knowledge, though indications are it is within the Yellow Line region established during this current round of invasion.
Israel also carried out artillery and airstrikes against the area around Bint Jbeil District on Saturday, wounding an unknown number of civilians in the village of Haris which was the target of substantial artillery fire.
An Israeli flag hangs from a building in Lebanon as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, in northern Israel, July 5, 2026 REUTERS
The IDF was relatively mum on operations in the south Saturday, though they claimed to have targeted Hezbollah drone operators somewhere in the region. They did not provide any details about whether any of them were hit, or even which attacks were aimed at them.
Destruction in southern Lebanon continues apace though, with Lebanese Education Minister Rima Karami reporting that Israel had destroyed three more schools in the towns of Khiam and Bint Jbeil, towns that are both almost totally destroyed at this point.
Karami said that soldiers “looted” the schools before wiring them up with explosives and reducing them to ash. It’s not clear what was looted from the schools, though the ministry reported that this brings the number of schools totally destroyed during the IDF invasion to 20. At least 340 schools have been damaged in the course of the war, according to a recent ministry assessment.
It’s not clear exactly why the schools are being targeted in this manner, though elsewhere in Lebanon schools are being converted into shelters for people displaced by the war, so this may simply be a continuation of Israeli DM Israel Katz’s plan to make certain towns and villages “disappear.”
