Over 62.000 homes have been destroyed or damaged by Israeli military operations during the six-week war, a Lebanese official said today.
“In almost 45 days (of war), we recorded 21,700 homes destroyed and 40.500 damaged,” said Sadi Abdullah, secretary general of the National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) at a press conference.
Between March 2 and the start of the ceasefire on April 17, Israel carried out massive airstrikes in Lebanon.
Simultaneously, it is conducting house demolition operations using explosives in border towns it has seized in the south, preventing residents from returning, according to Lebanese authorities, witnesses and French News Agency images taken from Israeli territory.
The CNRS estimates that “428 homes were destroyed in the first three days” of the ceasefire.
Lebanon will ask for a one-month extension of the ceasefire at talks scheduled to take place tomorrow (Thursday) with Israel in Washington, an official source told Agence France-Presse earlier today.
Hezbollah and Israel had already been waging a devastating war for more than a year, which ended in November 2024 with a ceasefire. However, thereafter Israel continued to carry out raids, particularly in the south of the country.
In a press conference, Environment Minister Tamara el-Zayn denounced the “massive destruction on all levels” by Israel since the start of the previous war.
He estimated that “more than 220,000 settlement units” have been completely or partially destroyed by 2023.
El-Zayn also stressed that in southern Lebanon, Israel is working “to demolish settlement neighborhoods (….) historical sites and even places of worship, including archaeological sites.”
He also denounced an “ecocide” in the south, where forests, farmland and water resources have been extensively damaged.
Lebanon became embroiled in the Middle East war on March 2, when Hezbollah attacked Israel in retaliation for an Israeli-US attack on Iran.
Israel responded with massive airstrikes that killed more than 2.300 people and displaced more than a million, and by invading the south of the country.
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