On Wednesday, Israeli warplanes carried out air strikes on several areas in southern Lebanon, while Israeli artillery targeted towns and positions in the districts of Bint Jbeil, Tyre and Marjayoun. The attacks came amid a ceasefire announced in June, which reduced the frequency of Israeli operations in the south without stopping them entirely.
Air strikes and artillery shelling in the south
Lebanon’s official National News Agency said Israeli warplanes carried out a two-wave air strike targeting Wadi al-Hujeir from the direction of Qantara. It added that another strike hit Wadi al-Saluki from the direction of Houla minutes later, as part of a series of attacks on various areas of southern Lebanon that day.
In the Bint Jbeil district, the agency’s correspondent reported that Israeli artillery shelled the area between the towns of Hadatha and Haris. In the Tyre district, the town of Mansouri came under intermittent artillery fire, while a sweeping operation was carried out towards the town of Beit Yahoun.
Developments in the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire
An Israeli air strike also targeted the al-Salatin area on the outskirts of Tebnine, but the missile did not explode. In Marjayoun, Israeli artillery shelling hit the centre of the Marjayoun plain, where five shells were reported to have landed near the refinery. The war between Israel and Lebanon began on 2 March, after Hezbollah launched rockets towards northern Israel.
The Israeli forces later took control of a number of towns in southern Lebanon, while air strikes continued to target wide areas of the south and the Bekaa region in the east of the country. The Lebanon-Israel ceasefire was first announced on 16 April, before being extended on 23 April for three weeks.
Civil lawsuit filed in Paris against unknown persons
The agreement was renewed again on 15 May for 45 days. A new ceasefire was then announced on 20 June, after which the frequency of Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon fell. Amid the developments on the ground, a French businessman of Lebanese origin filed a civil lawsuit in Paris against unknown persons, accusing them of war crimes.
The lawsuit included accusations of theft, destruction and damage to property as war crimes, saying the trees had been uprooted. The claimant, a digital entrepreneur, also said he suspected that the trees had been transferred to Israel.
The lawsuit file states that the claimant is “not a member of Hezbollah and does not sympathise with it”, adding that “there is no evidence indicating that Hezbollah was using the house or agricultural fields as military equipment”. According to his account, his family home was completely destroyed in an Israeli air strike hours before a ceasefire was announced in southern Lebanon in April 2026.
The claimant said that “the Israeli army’s complete control of the area” came a few weeks later, followed by the uprooting of the olive trees, after Lebanon and Israel signed a framework agreement at the end of June. The lawsuit maintains that “the destruction and uprooting of olive trees is evidence of the war crimes committed by Israel in southern Lebanon”, relying in particular on a report by Amnesty International.
