"Scorched-Earth Campaign": Israel Uses "Gaza Playbook" to Turn Southern Lebanon into Rubble

Israeli forces continue to bombard towns in southern Lebanon today, according to Lebanese state media. Several people were killed in a strike on the coastal town of Ansariya. According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, Israeli attacks have killed over 2,100 people, wounding nearly 7,000. Over 1 million Lebanese have been displaced, and 40,000 homes have been destroyed or heavily damaged. We go to Beirut, where we’re joined by investigative journalist Lylla Younes. Her family’s village in the southern border municipality of Bint Jbeil was bombed yesterday.

“It’s not just real estate that is lost when these homes are destroyed. It’s not just a house. Our grandparents built these structures,” says Younes. “What the world should know is that we will return to these villages, and when we do, we’ll return to rubble, and it will be an immense process of rebuilding.” She notes the Israeli military is using the same tactics in Lebanon as in Gaza, having flattened not only homes, but “vast swaths of Gaza’s cultural heritage, universities, mosques, archives.”