Mansouri families watch Israeli drones demolish homes from distant hill

Beirut,UPDATED: Sep 11, 2026 20:24 IST

Displaced residents of a village in southern Lebanon watched from a nearby hill on Friday as Israeli drones dropped boxes carrying explosives on homes below, in what they said has become a daily scene since they fled weeks ago. Although fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has eased since a truce in June, the Israeli military now controls large parts of southern Lebanon and has continued carrying out demolitions.

Residents of Mansouri, now staying in the neighbouring village of Hanniyeh and elsewhere, said they were watching their homes, farms and livelihoods being destroyed with no clear path to return. With talks between Israel and Lebanon, and between the US and Iran, stalled, there is no political breakthrough in sight even as more than 300,000 people remain displaced in Lebanon.

From the vantage point above Hanniyeh, men and children watched smoke and dust rise over Mansouri as they tried to work out whose house had been hit and whether their own homes were still standing. Lebanese state media reported that the Israeli military detonated the village's public school early on Friday. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the demolitions.

Some of those displaced said they hold the Lebanese government responsible as well as Israel, accusing the authorities of abandoning the village. Ali Hussein Ghanem, a tobacco farmer from Mansouri who is staying with relatives in Hanniyeh with his wife and children, said: "This is something that should never happen. Isn't the state supposed to protect our town rather than hand it over to Israel?"

Wissam Khashabi, a beekeeper from Mansouri, voiced similar anger. "We are seeing our land being destroyed," he said. "We have lost our property, our orchards, and all our livelihoods. The state is not really doing anything."

On Thursday, Israeli officials said they had blown up Hezbollah tunnel networks under the strategic Ali Taher ridge near the town of Nabatiyeh, in another part of southern Lebanon. The force of the explosions shook the ground in nearby areas. The Israeli military said the ridge contained extensive underground military infrastructure built by Hezbollah and that it had been the site of clashes in recent weeks before Israel announced it had taken "operational control" of it.

Many residents of Mansouri first fled when the latest Israel-Hezbollah war began in March, then returned after the June truce, only to leave again last month after the Israeli military called for the village to be evacuated and resumed strikes. Israel said at the time that it was responding to ceasefire violations by Hezbollah, though it remains unclear why the village has since been demolished.

Some of the displaced are staying with relatives, while others are in school shelters in the nearby city of Tyre. At the peak of the war, about 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon. While the ceasefire allowed most to go back, more than 300,000 are still away from their homes.

The latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2, when the group fired rockets across the border two days after Israel and the US launched a war on Iran. Lebanon and Israel reached a framework agreement in June under which Israel would withdraw from Lebanon as Hezbollah is disarmed, but there has been little progress on carrying it out. Lebanese and Israeli officials are expected to meet for another round of talks in Rome later this month, even as families from Mansouri continue to watch their village being destroyed from afar.

With PTI Inputs

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