In southern Lebanon, Israeli demolitions continue ‘day and night’

Explosions shake the ground in Froun as Israeli operations persist, disrupting daily life in southern Lebanon.

A Lebanese man walks on the rubble of a mosque that was destroyed in an Israeli attack in Froun village in southern Lebanon on July 16, 2026 [Mohammed Zaatari/AP]

Froun, Lebanon – Hasan Saeid Ramadan, 56, was at home in this southern Lebanese municipality when he heard the explosions.

“It shook the ground like an earthquake, and the mountain collapsed,” he said, pointing at the nearby Qantara mountains.

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Israeli forces are present just south of Froun and occupy large areas of southern Lebanon, where they conduct operations, including regular detonations, that they say target the Lebanese group Hezbollah.

The ones conducted by Israel along the Qantara mountain range this week led to a visible collapse in at least two places in the mountains. Locals and officials in villages along the edge of Israeli-controlled Lebanese territory, such as Froun, Ghandouriyeh, Bourj Qalaway and Qalaway, told Al Jazeera that the sounds of war – warplanes, drones but, most of all, Israeli demolitions – are constant and often keep them up at night.

While Ramadan was speaking, an explosion echoed in the distance – another apparent Israeli detonation of a home. “Day and night,” he said. “We even see them.”

He added: “It’s become routine.”

In March, Israel invaded Lebanon for the second time in less than two years. The first invasion in October 2024 was followed by a near-full Israeli withdrawal with soldiers remaining in five locations in southern Lebanon. After the second invasion, however, Israeli officials have said their troops will stay on in southern Lebanon despite promises from United States officials that the Israelis do not have territorial ambitions in Lebanon.

While US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire in April, Israel’s military has continued to attack what it says are Hezbollah targets and infrastructure around southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese state has been locked in US-brokered direct discussions with Israel despite objections from Hezbollah and its allies, who favour indirect discussions with the Israelis to try to end the war and the Israeli presence in southern Lebanon.

Israel and Lebanon agreed a “ framework agreement ” in June, which launched a “pilot zone” plan. The pilot zones are to act as a test area for the Lebanese army to disarm Hezbollah and for the Israelis to withdraw. The first pilot zones were the villages of Froun, Srifa and Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh. But locals disputed the inclusion of Froun and Srifa, saying they were never occupied by Israel in the first place.

“[The Israelis] didn’t take a single step here,” Ramadan said.

For its part, Israel is also reportedly critical of the pilot zone scheme, and analysts doubt their willingness to allow it to progress.

“The pilot zones can only really work if you have goodwill of various parties,” Nicholas Blanford, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and author of a book on Hezbollah, told Al Jazeera. “The trouble is the Israelis have said they are not going to stage any more withdrawals, so it brings the process to a halt.”

And regardless of the efforts from the Lebanese state and the Lebanese army, both Hezbollah and Israel have played a role in undermining the process.

“Hezbollah opposes the scheme outright and argues that Lebanon should rely on Iran to pressure the US into demanding an Israeli withdrawal,” David Wood, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Lebanon, told Al Jazeera. “Israel has paid lip service to the pilot zones scheme but has recently expanded – rather than reduced – its occupation of Lebanese territory.”

Demolitions and destruction

In the villages near the areas Israel controls, many of the homes and local infrastructure lie destroyed. Piles of concrete rubble and dust line many of the roads to the villages. Explosions were heard throughout the day on Thursday, and locals said they are often worse at night and disrupt their sleep.

During the harshest days of the war, these villages were ghost towns. Residents fled north to Sidon or Beirut, where they stayed with family, in displacement centres, or slept rough on the streets, locals said.

Residents began to return to these villages after the announcement of the framework agreement. But what they returned to was not what they had left behind.

Mohammad Ali Nader, the head of the municipality of Ghandouriyeh, said his area was mostly agricultural and farmers grew olives, wheat, chickpeas, corn and tobacco, among many other crops. But now, the area lies overwhelmingly in ruins. Most residents don’t have access to water or electricity.

The clanking sound of cranes and other construction equipment moving rubble or smashing concrete echoed out into the rolling hills behind Nader. He stood on the ruins of a home that had been destroyed by two Israeli rockets.

“Much like all the other houses that were destroyed, this house is no longer habitable,” he said, saying it had once boasted two storeys and a large garden. He added that the electric and water infrastructure in the area was also mostly destroyed. “We used to grow carob here, but where is there carob now?” he asked rhetorically. “Not a carob is left nor olives, tobacco or wheat.”

Nasser Mokdad, an official in the municipality of Froun, said the area was currently not receiving state-provided electricity but added that the Lebanese government was working on returning services, setting September 15 as a target date.

No water, no electricity, no return

Residents in the affected villages said the current period reminds them of the days of the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000. Hasan Bazzi, the head of the municipality of Froun, said the only difference is that during the previous occupation, southerners remained in their Israeli-occupied villages.

This time around, the Israeli demolitions are ensuring that those whose homes are in Israeli-occupied areas will have difficulty returning, even if the troops eventually withdraw.

When the war restarted this year, Ramadan fled his home of 30 years and took refuge in an area near Tyre, a coastal city in southern Lebanon, and then moved farther north to Sidon, about an hour south of Beirut.

When he returned after the truce in the area, his house had been badly damaged. Still, it fared better than the neighbouring houses, which he said belonged to his cousins. He’s now sleeping in his garage with his wife. Their house, like the surrounding area, has no access to water or electricity.

He said the heat at night bothers him and he’s developed a bad heat rash. During the day, he slowly works on fixing the shrapnel-pocketed walls of his home.

Dripping with sweat under the midday sun, he smiled. “My conscience is at ease because I’m by my home,” he said.

以色列的军事行动持续进行，弗伦地区爆炸声震耳欲聋，黎巴嫩南部地区的日常生活受到严重干扰。

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黎巴嫩弗伦——56岁的哈桑·赛义德·拉马丹当时正在黎巴嫩南部这个市镇的家中，突然听到了爆炸声。

“地面像地震一样震动，山体也崩塌了，”他指着附近的坎塔拉山脉说道。

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以色列军队驻扎在弗伦以南，并占领了黎巴嫩南部的大片地区，在那里他们开展军事行动，包括定期引爆，他们声称这些行动的目标是黎巴嫩真主党。

以色列本周在坎塔拉山脉进行的爆破作业导致至少两处山体出现明显的坍塌。位于以色列控制的黎巴嫩领土边缘的村庄，例如弗伦、甘杜里耶、布尔杰卡拉韦和卡拉韦等地的村民和官员告诉半岛电视台，战争的声音——战机、无人机，尤其是以色列的爆破声——持续不断，常常让他们夜不能寐。

拉马丹讲话时，远处传来一声爆炸声——显然是以色列人炸毁了一处民宅。“日夜不停，”他说，“我们甚至都能看到他们。”

他补充说：“这已经成了家常便饭。”

今年3月，以色列在不到两年的时间内第二次入侵黎巴嫩。第一次入侵发生在2024年10月，之后以色列几乎完全撤军，仅在黎巴嫩南部五个地点保留了部分兵力。然而，第二次入侵后，尽管美国官员承诺以色列在黎巴嫩没有领土野心，以色列官员仍表示其军队将继续驻扎在黎巴嫩南部。

尽管美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在四月份宣布停火，但以色列军方仍在继续袭击其所称的黎巴嫩南部地区的真主党目标和基础设施。

与此同时，尽管真主党及其盟友反对，黎巴嫩政府仍与以色列进行了由美国斡旋的直接谈判。真主党及其盟友倾向于与以色列进行间接谈判，以期结束战争和以色列在黎巴嫩南部的存在。

以色列和黎巴嫩于6月达成一项“框架协议”，启动了“试点区”计划。这些试点区旨在作为黎巴嫩军队解除真主党武装和以色列军队撤离的试验区。首批试点区包括弗伦村、斯里法村和扎乌塔尔·加尔比耶村。但当地居民对弗伦村和斯里法村被纳入试点区提出异议，称这两个村庄从未被以色列占领过。

拉马丹说：“（以色列人）在这里一步都没迈出来。”

据报道，以色列方面也对试点区计划持批评态度，分析人士怀疑以色列是否愿意允许该计划继续推进。

“试点区只有在各方都抱有善意的情况下才能真正发挥作用，”大西洋理事会非常驻高级研究员、真主党问题专家尼古拉斯·布兰福德告诉半岛电视台，“问题在于以色列方面已经表示不会再进行任何撤军行动，这使得整个进程陷入停滞。”

尽管黎巴嫩政府和黎巴嫩军队做出了努力，但真主党和以色列都参与了破坏这一进程的活动。

“真主党断然反对这项计划，并认为黎巴嫩应该依靠伊朗向美国施压，迫使美国要求以色列撤军，”国际危机组织黎巴嫩问题高级分析师大卫·伍德告诉半岛电视台。“以色列口头上支持试点区计划，但最近却扩大了对黎巴嫩领土的占领，而不是减少。”

拆除和破坏

在以色列控制区附近的村庄，许多房屋和当地基础设施被毁。通往村庄的许多道路两旁堆满了混凝土瓦砾和尘土。周四一整天都能听到爆炸声，当地居民说，爆炸声在夜间往往更加剧烈，严重影响了他们的睡眠。

战争最残酷的日子里，这些村庄变成了鬼城。当地人说，居民们逃往北部的西顿或贝鲁特，在那里他们投奔亲戚、住在流离失所者中心，或者露宿街头。

框架协议公布后，居民们开始返回这些村庄。但他们返回的，已不再是他们离开时的模样。

甘杜里耶市市长穆罕默德·阿里·纳德尔表示，他所在的地区以前主要是农业区，农民种植橄榄、小麦、鹰嘴豆、玉米和烟草等多种作物。但如今，这里已基本沦为废墟。大多数居民连水电都用不上。

起重机和其他建筑设备搬运瓦砾或砸碎混凝土的哐当声在纳德尔身后的绵延山丘间回荡。他站在一栋被两枚以色列火箭弹摧毁的房屋废墟上。

“和所有其他被毁的房屋一样，这栋房子现在也无法居住了，”他说，并提到这栋房子曾经有两层楼和一个大花园。他还补充说，该地区的电力和供水基础设施也大多被毁。“我们以前在这里种植角豆，但现在角豆在哪里呢？”他反问道。“角豆、橄榄、烟草和小麦都消失了。”

弗伦市的一位官员纳赛尔·莫克达德表示，该地区目前没有获得国家提供的电力，但他补充说，黎巴嫩政府正在努力恢复供电，并将 9 月 15 日定为目标日期。

没有水，没有电，就没有回报

受影响村庄的居民表示，目前的状况让他们想起了1982年至2000年以色列占领黎巴嫩南部的时期。弗伦市市长哈桑·巴齐表示，唯一的区别是，在之前的占领时期，南部居民仍然留在他们被以色列占领的村庄里。

这一次，以色列的拆迁行动确保了那些房屋位于以色列占领区的居民即使最终撤离，也很难返回家园。

今年战争再次爆发时，拉马丹逃离了他生活了 30 年的家，在黎巴嫩南部沿海城市提尔附近的一个地区避难，然后又向北搬到了贝鲁特以南约一小时车程的西顿。

停战结束后他返回家乡时，自己的房子损毁严重。不过，比起邻居家的房子，他的房子情况要好一些，他说邻居家的房子是他表兄弟的。现在他和妻子睡在车库里。和周围地区一样，他们的房子也没有水和电。

他说夜间的酷热让他难受，身上还起了严重的痱子。白天，他则慢慢地修补着家中布满弹片的墙壁。

正午的烈日下，他汗流浃背，却依然露出笑容。“因为回到了家，我问心无愧。”他说。