Democracy Now! / April 15, 2026
Guest: Lylla Younes – Beirut-based investigative journalist.
Link: “Massive Israeli Assault on Lebanon Threatens U.S.-Iran Ceasefire”
Israeli forces continue to bombard towns in southern Lebanon today, according to Lebanese state media. Several people were killed in a strike on the coastal town of Ansariya. According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, Israeli attacks have killed over 2,100 people, wounding nearly 7,000. Over 1 million Lebanese have been displaced, and 40,000 homes have been destroyed or heavily damaged. We go to Beirut, where we’re joined by investigative journalist Lylla Younes. Her family’s village in the southern border municipality of Bint Jbeil was bombed yesterday.
“It’s not just real estate that is lost when these homes are destroyed. It’s not just a house. Our grandparents built these structures,” says Younes. “What the world should know is that we will return to these villages, and when we do, we’ll return to rubble, and it will be an immense process of rebuilding.” She notes the Israeli military is using the same tactics in Lebanon as in Gaza, having flattened not only homes, but “vast swaths of Gaza’s cultural heritage, universities, mosques, archives.”
TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, as we go now on the ground to Lebanon, where the Israeli military bombed towns in southern Lebanon today, according to the Lebanese state media. Several people were killed in a strike in the coastal town of Ansariya. According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, Israeli attacks have killed over 2,100 people, wounding nearly 7,000. Over a million Lebanese have been displaced. Forty thousand homes have been destroyed or heavily damaged.
We go now to Beirut, where we’re joined by the investigative journalist and writer Lylla Younes, her latest piece for Drop Site News headlined “Massive Israeli Assault on Lebanon Threatens U.S.-Iran Ceasefire.”
Lylla, your own family’s village in the south, in Bint Jbeil, right near the border with Israel, was bombed just yesterday. Before I ask you about the response to the Israel-Lebanon negotiations taking place in Washington, can you tell us about your village and how you found out about what’s been destroyed in this latest bombing?
LYLLA YOUNES: Thanks for having me back, Amy.
What we’re finding out about our village is really the way that everyone and the border region is learning about what’s happening in their villages, which is through satellite imagery that is being released, much of it from the Israeli military. So, they’ve kind of revealed these before-and-after shots. We saw one also, from a few days ago, of the village of Al-Khiyam — oh my gosh, I’m so sorry — where, you know, you see, literally, what was once a built environment reduced to dust.
And the same thing with Bint Jbeil. So, yesterday, we received imagery of the very famous, hundreds-year-old mosque of the village, the Grand Mosque of Bint Jbeil, basically flattened. And so, that’s really how we’re learning about the destruction of our homes, is through satellite imageries, because we can’t be there because it is obviously the forefront of this battle.
AMY GOODMAN: So, what are your family members saying? And what do you understand the rest of the world understands about what’s happening in southern Lebanon, as Israel says they’re just trying to disarm, to wipe out Hezbollah?
LYLLA YOUNES: Well, what we’re seeing is it’s a scorched-earth campaign. I mean, we’re seeing images similar to those that we saw in Gaza, which is civilian areas reduced to rubble. I shouldn’t have to tell you that this is obviously against international law to target civilian areas in this way. They’re going in with armoured bulldozers. You know, they begin with their artillery shelling, and they go in. And then they tear up the street, they tear up the homes. And, of course, many of these areas were severely damaged in the last round of fighting in 2024, and they’re sort of finishing them off now, particularly, again, the border region, where they’re able to actually reach these areas with these bulldozers.
I mean, I think what the world should know is that we will return to these villages, and when we do, we’ll return to rubble, and it will be an immense process of rebuilding. And, you know, I think, Amy, like, for us, you know, it’s not just real estate that is lost when these homes are destroyed. It’s not just a house. You know, it’s — our grandparents built these structures. These structures are, you know, sacred to the families of these regions. You know, in the same way that the Israeli military flattened vast swaths of Gaza’s cultural heritage, universities, mosques, archives, the same thing is happening in southern Lebanon. It’s the exact same playbook. And so, you know, what is being used or being explained in terms of some self-defense strategy is really, in fact, an effort at, you know, destroying a people.
AMY GOODMAN: Lylla, can you respond to what’s happening in Washington with Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, presiding over the first negotiations between Israel and Lebanon in over 30 years? Hezbollah is not included. What is your analysis and the response of people on the ground in Lebanon as Israel continues to bomb Lebanon through these talks?
LYLLA YOUNES: The Lebanese people is deeply divided on the question of negotiating directly with Israel. I’ve spoken to people on both sides, in both camps. You know, those who kind of stand with the government and these negotiations will tell you, “Hey, listen, you know, we’re a, quote, ‘Mediterranean nation,’ unable to stand up to Israel militarily. Look at Egypt. Look at Jordan. You know, they look like they’re doing all right with their normalization agreements. Why can’t we do the same?” But, of course, a very large percentage of the country, particularly those majority in the areas under the heaviest bombardment, are vehemently opposed to negotiations, primarily because Lebanon is still being bombed, as you just said.
You know, just this morning — right? — an aid convoy — or, an aid van, sorry, on the highway, on the coastal highway in the south, was bombed. We see images of, you know, baby formula and diapers spread across the blood of these drivers who were killed. Exactly one week ago today, a massive bombing campaign across civilian areas, killing over 300 people, you know, in what Lebanese are calling Black Wednesday.
So, for many, you know, also, of course, the exclusion of Hezbollah from these talks makes many believe them to be unserious. The talks are about Hezbollah’s weapons, but Hezbollah isn’t there. And the Lebanese government, as Daniel said before me, is unable to disarm this group. So, what exactly are these negotiations really doing, other than, you know, giving Netanyahu basically the green light to kind of — or at least the ability to buy more time for his aggression in Lebanon, something clearly stated already by the Israeli press?
And I think, you know, it’s also important to remember, many Lebanese don’t see the Israelis or their American guarantors as reliable negotiating partners. You know, the Oslo peace process was supposed to be a peace process; instead, you know, in the subsequent decades, we see the entrenchment of the occupation, settlement building in the West Bank, the transformation of the Palestinian Authority into this, you know, effectively, a police force for the Israelis. And, of course, in the 15 months before the current escalation — right? — the U.N. counted over 15,000 violations by Israel of the agreement with Lebanon.
You know, first time I came on your show, Amy, I told you about a man named Mustafa Arout from the border village of Mais al-Jabal, and he had lost two young relatives, Haidar and Ruqaya, ages 2 and 4, under Israeli bombs in the early days of this escalation. And I’ve been following up with him throughout this war. And I reached out to him this morning because I wanted his thoughts on the negotiation. I want to read you what he said. I translated it. He said, “How are you going to negotiate with an enemy that is killing you under the bombs? We can only negotiate from a logical place, not while we are under fire. We have to first protect our people, protect our country. We left our home with nothing but the clothes on our backs. We have fled five times over the course of our lives. Since the year 1948, we have paid with our blood. We don’t want parties. We don’t want masters. We want a nation. We want the state to protect us as a nation. For us people of the south, the land is not just trees and stones and dirt. It’s our history, our parents and grandparents, our heritage, our livelihoods, our pride, our dignity. This is what breaks our hearts. I saw yesterday images of our village, how they’re going through it with bulldozers, tearing everything up, making it unfit for life. But we will return, if even to dust, and we will pitch tents on top of it. And God will take care of the rest.”
AMY GOODMAN: Lylla Younes, we want to thank you so much for being with us, investigative journalist, writer based in Beirut. We’ll link to your piece in Drop Site News. It’s titled “Massive Israeli Assault on Lebanon Threatens U.S.-Iran Ceasefire.”
