William Christou
The Guardian / May 11, 2026
More than 1.2 million people have been forced to flee their homes amid bombings, evacuation orders and demolitions.
Beirut – Israel’s destruction in southern Lebanon happened in phases. Hours after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel on 2 March, the Israeli military issued forced evacuation orders for more than 100 villages close to the Lebanese-Israeli border.
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Bombing quickly followed. Tens of thousands of residents of south Lebanon began heading north, taking shelter in cities such as Tyre, Sidon and Beirut. Many people outside the formal evacuation zones also fled their homes, recalling the autumn 2024 war in which Israel bombed wide swathes of south Lebanon without warning.
On 4 March, the Israeli military told all people living south of the Litani River to head north. On 12 March, forced evacuation orders were issued up to the Zahrani River, adding another chunk of south Lebanon to the Israeli-declared no man’s land. Further north still, evacuation orders were issued for the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Step by step, Israel had ordered roughly 14.3% of Lebanon’s territory to be vacated – displacing more than 1.2 million people from their homes. The vast majority of those displaced were from south Lebanon, where Israel’s bombing campaign was disproportionately focused.
More than two months after fighting began, most residents of south Lebanon remain displaced. Many of their homes lie in ruins, destroyed in airstrikes or controlled demolitions. Return is impossible for those from areas under the “yellow line”, an area established by Israel after the 17 April ceasefire along the Lebanon-Israel border comprising more than 50 villages occupied by Israeli soldiers.
The areas under the yellow line comprise about 608 sq km, or approximately 6% of Lebanese territory, which is now under Israeli occupation. Despite the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire, Israel continues to carry out strikes across Lebanon, and Hezbollah has continued to attack Israeli soldiers there.
The yellow line is a term imported from Gaza, one of a number of military techniques Israel has transplanted from Gaza to Lebanon. The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, also told the military to apply what he called the “Rafah and Beit Hanoun model” in south Lebanon, ordering the demolition of villages along the border.
Israel carried out the invasion and eventual occupation of parts of south Lebanon while its military pounded the country.
There were more than 3,688 Israeli strikes between 2 March and 1 May, according to the war monitor ACLED, most of them concentrated in south Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa valley. Houses, valleys and cars were hit, and civilian infrastructure became an explicit target.
Israel announced on 12 March – 10 days after the air campaign began – that it would begin bombing bridges crossing the Litani River, which it said were being used by Hezbollah to transport fighters and weapons. Human rights groups said targeting bridges could be a war crime, due to their status as civilian infrastructure and their role in transporting supplies to civilians still living in south Lebanon.
For people still trapped in south Lebanon, each bridge destroyed was another route to the outside world cut off. Hours before the 17 April ceasefire went into effect, Israel bombed the last bridge out of Tyre, one of the largest cities in south Lebanon, leaving a crater where the structure once stood.
People were forced to abandon their cars and walk through the crater if they wanted to leave the city.
Fighting continued between Hezbollah and Israel after the ceasefire. Analysts described it as not a cessation in hostilities, but a move to a lower-intensity war.
The Israeli military has continued to issue forced evacuation orders, telling people in dozens of towns – including some outside the yellow line – to leave.
With much of south Lebanon depopulated, the pace of demolitions has increased. The Israeli military, no longer facing the same intensity of attacks from Hezbollah, began to bring in civilian contractors who used excavators to knock down buildings along the border.
With jugs filled with explosive liquids strung together by red wire, armoured personnel carriers filled with explosives, and bulldozers, the Israeli military flattened entire villages. One by one, videos of the destruction began to emerge. Some were published by the Israeli military itself, others by Israeli journalists.
In Qantara, south Lebanon, the Israeli military used more than 450 tonnes of explosives to blow up the hillside town. A video of the aftermath showed a sandy crater where the buildings used to stand.
“You feel a deep sense of frustration. Like someone has the power to erase you,” Ahmad Abu Taam, a shop owner from Taybeh, told The Guardian.
William Christou is a Beirut-based journalist
