By Yehuda Dov- VINnews
Details of Israel’s scorched-earth strategy in Southern Lebanon were revealed Tuesday by the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. The newspaper claimed that there was already 20 billion dollars of damage in Lebanon as a result of the war with Israel, according to Beirut officials.
The IDF has destroyed 29 villages along a 120-km border region, from Ras Al-Nakoura in the west to Shab’a in the east. Mohamed Chamseddine, policy research specialist at Information International, claimed that 25,000 homes had been destroyed in the region.
Vidoes have been circulating on social media of dozens of houses in a Lebanese border village being detonated simultaneously by the Israeli army. In one video, soldiers can be heard chanting a countdown before the detonation of several houses, followed by celebrations. Last month, the detonations in Adeisseh and Deir Seryan were so powerful that they caused tremors that were initially mistaken for earthquakes.
The military experts believe that the scorched earth policy means that residents of the South won’t be able to rebuild and replant what they lost once a ceasefire is reached and they can return home
Brig. Gen. Hassan Jouni, former deputy chief of staff of operations in the Lebanese Armed Forces, said that “blowing up villages near the border is part of an Israeli strategy to build a 3-km buffer zone along the Lebanese-Israeli border.”
He added that Israel will not keep its forces deployed in the South, so it won’t be able to hold any territory and maintain the areas destroyed. Any political agreement will inevitably call for the return of Lebanese residents back to their villages where they will rebuild their homes, he explained.
The Lebanese state will in no way agree for the border strip to remain uninhabited and destroyed, Jouni stressed.
“In all likelihood, Israel already knows this, and its actions are part of a psychological war to punish the residents of those villages and towns because they are Hezbollah’s popular support base. Israel wants to drive a wedge between the people and Hezbollah. It is as if it is saying: ‘See how the party was unable to protect your homes,’” he went on to say.
Moreover, Jouni said Israel is mistaken if it believes that a buffer zone will restore security to its northern settlements because those areas can be targeted from beyond the border region.
VIDEO:
Video shows IDF blowing up multiple Hezbollah terror sites in southern Lebanon. The latest reminder of the massive damage suffered by Hezbollah in this war, losing numerous military assets that took years & billions to build.
pic.twitter.com/9zTExU96rx— Israel Radar (@IsraelRadar_com) November 4, 2024
There is alot left out here. The new leader of hezbollah fled to Iran, the group is estimated to have lost by some estimates up to 80% of its missile stockpile, billions of dollars when their banking branches were destroyed and infrastructure that took decades to build. Even if hezbollah survives, Israel can likely guarantee peace for a few decades, longer if Lebanese opposition decide hezbollah is now weakened enough to be opposed