Original article: Israel intensifica ataques en el Líbano y genera desplazamientos masivos en el sur: ¿Otra apropiación de territorio?
Lebanon: War Crimes and Mass Displacements
Evacuation Orders and Threats of «Another Gaza»
On the seventh day of the conflict between the United States and Israel against Iran, the population in southern Lebanon finds itself in a nightmare. The Israel Defense Forces have ramped up bombings and issued massive evacuation orders affecting dozens of villages, extending throughout the area south of the Litani River, including suburbs of Beirut.
In a video released Thursday and reported by Democracy Now!, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich issued a chilling warning: «Dahiyeh will resemble Khan Younis,» directly referencing the total destruction in Gaza. «The word on everyone’s lips here is ethnic cleansing,» stated investigative journalist Lylla Younes from Beirut for Democracy Now!.
Civilians Trapped Without Shelter or Hope
Panic has overtaken hundreds of thousands fleeing north without a clear destination. Official shelters are overwhelmed, and families are sleeping outdoors in the cold winter nights.
The heart-wrenching testimony of Aliyeh Hijazi, a mother of ten, reveals the dire situation: «They said they would attack Dahiyeh, so we left. We don’t know where to go. I have ten children, and I don’t know where they are,» she recounted to Democracy Now!. Journalist Lylla Younes described the tragedy of Mustafa Arout, a local leader who lost two nephews aged 2 and 4 during an attack as they fled. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, cited by Qatar News Agency, the Israeli aggression has already resulted in 294 deaths and over 1,023 injuries since the offensive began.
An International Call for Accountability
In light of the escalating violence, human rights organizations are demanding justice. Omar Shakir, the new executive director of DAWN and former Human Rights Watch investigator, urged Iran and affected states to submit a declaration granting jurisdiction to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate crimes committed. «More and more evidence is emerging daily of serious war crimes committed by the United States and Israel,» Shakir affirmed on Democracy Now!.
The expert emphasized that Israeli impunity emboldens its government and that preserving evidence and utilizing tools from the ICC, over which the United States has no veto power, is crucial to mitigating risks to civilians.
UN Warns: “Lebanon Has Been Dragged Back into Violence”
As the bombings continue, the UN’s top representative in the country has issued a stern warning. UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, stated in a release distributed by Qatar News Agency that military operations will not bring lasting victory to anyone, but rather «exacerbate instability and suffering.»
Hennis-Plasschaert recalled that just last week, Lebanon showed signs of economic and political progress, but all was disrupted when the country «was dragged back into a state of turmoil and violence early last Monday.» The envoy insisted that the current situation is prone to further deterioration and that the only option is to «cease hostilities, act with restraint, and initiate dialogue».
Criminal Spraying Operations
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor documented in February 2026 the spraying of chemicals by Israeli aircraft over vast agricultural areas, particularly in the city of Ayta ash-Shaab and its surroundings in southern Lebanon.
“This increases the risk of consequences extending beyond immediate damage to crops, posing a severe threat to the right to health and a safe environment due to the potential long-term contamination of soil and water resources,” the organization noted.
It continued: “The deliberate attack on civilian agricultural lands violates international humanitarian law, particularly the prohibition against attacking or destroying objects indispensable for civilian survival.”
Moreover, it said: “This incident cannot be viewed in isolation from the Israeli army’s scorched earth policy. It is part of a systematic pattern of destruction of agricultural lands, including the burning of approximately 9,000 hectares during recent military operations with white phosphorus and incendiary munitions… The deliberate attack on livelihoods violates the laws of war and appears aimed at undermining the vital security of residents in the south and rendering their areas uninhabitable, thus forcibly displacing them.”
Euro-Med Monitor also documented the spraying of pesticides of unknown composition by Israeli aircraft over farmlands in the rural area of Quneitra in southern Syria on January 26 and 27, 2026: “Direct attacks on civilian targets resulted in widespread crop destruction, posing a severe threat to economic and food security and violating farmers’ rights to work and to an adequate standard of living by destroying their primary sources of income without military justification.”
