In Maps: Satellite imagery reveals massive destruction in southern Lebanon
In MapsAccording to data derived from an analysis of satellite imagery, almost 40% of the buildings in the area have been destroyed by the Israeli army, which claims to have discovered a significant volume of weapons and ammunition.
Perched on a hill on the border with Israel, Mhaibib, one of the smallest villages in southern Lebanon's Jabal Amel, became sadly famous on October 16, when images of the village being blown up were shared around the world. In a video posted on social media, Israeli soldiers filmed themselves rejoicing at the simultaneous explosion of houses. Mhaibib was the first village to suffer controlled explosions after the start of the Israeli ground offensive on October 1. Aita al-Shaab, Blida, Meis al-Jabal and Ramieh: The list of villages destroyed in this way grew longer as Israel's troops advanced, reaching, in some places, more than 5 kilometers into the strip on the border with Israel.
This destruction, combined with 13 months of aerial bombings in response to Hezbollah's rocket attacks on Israel, has devastated southern Lebanon. An analysis by Le Monde's infographic department, based on data supplied by researchers Corey Scher, of the City University of New York, and Jamon Van Den Hoek, of Oregon State University, using satellite imagery from Sentinel-1 and information from Microsoft Building Footprints, which maps buildings worldwide, has, as of November 23, tallied 9,644 damaged or destroyed buildings in villages near the border, representing 38% of total buildings.
Two-thirds demolished, Kfar Kila and Aita al-Shaab are the two localities that have been most affected by the war. A dozen others, such as Dhaira, Odaisseh, Ramieh, Teir Harfa and Yarine, are 40% or even 50% destroyed. The map of destruction can be superimposed on the path of the Israeli army's ground advances. "With what the Israelis call a 'limited offensive', we've seen villages totally destroyed, not by air strikes, but by booby-trapped houses. They destroy everything: Both old and new neighborhoods, houses over 200 years old and those barely 5 years old, tourist and religious sites, mausoleums and cemeteries," said Hussein Chaabane, an investigative journalist with the Lebanese legal defense NGO Legal Agenda.
MASSIVE DESTRUCTION IN SOUTHERN LEBANON
Le Monde got access to data on the destruction of buildings in southern Lebanon compiled by Corey Scher of the CUNY Graduate Center and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University. This data, based on analyses of satellite imagery from the Copernicus Programme's Sentinel-1 satellite, acquired from April to November 23, 2024, allows for an estimation of destruction by municipality to be established. An analysis of some of these images shows that over half of the total buildings in them were destroyed during this period. Certain village centers, like that of Mhaibib, have been almost totally destroyed.
The extent of the destruction has raised fears in Lebanon that Israel is seeking to create a buffer zone, as it has done along its border with Gaza and in the north of the territory, or even to prevent residents from returning to live in the border area. The Israeli army has denied this, saying it had carried out limited, localized raids against Hezbollah targets and their infrastructure in towns, including tunnels running under houses and weapon caches in buildings. The Israeli government's stated aim is to push Hezbollah back as far as possible from the demarcation line between Israel and Lebanon, in order to enable the 60,000 Israelis displaced from the north of the country to return to their homes.
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