Lebanon09 September, 20263 min read
Israeli Drone Buzzes Over Nabatieh as IDF Warns Mayor Abbas Fakherdine
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Israeli drone buzzed over Nabatieh amid southern Lebanon strikes. Al-Manar journalist and cameraman were injured near Nabatieh during strike.
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Nabatieh strikes and displacement
An Israeli drone buzzed over the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, 11 kilometres from the Israeli border, as Mayor Abbas Fakherdine stood in the ruins of the city’s Ottoman-era market destroyed during the last three years of war. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the mayor was elected with the backing of Hezbollah, and it quoted a UN representative’s message relaying the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warning: "The IDF is unable to guarantee the safety of this activity,". The ABC News & Headlines account also said authorities reported about 400 people died during the previous ceasefire and nearly the same number again during the current one.
It described the IDF occupying about 6 per cent of Lebanese territory for a "security zone" and said the area is three times larger than what it occupies in Gaza. The ABC News & Headlines report added that Layal Akil, a mother of two, said her home in the border village of Jebbine was destroyed in 2024 and is now unreachable due to the occupation.
Deaths and attacks near reporters
In southern Lebanon, Israeli air strikes began at dawn on Sunday and killed at least 10 people, with attacks hitting Nabatieh, Arab Salim, Nabatieh al-Fawqa and Kfar Roummane, according to local media cited by Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera also reported that an Israeli strike hit near an Al-Manar journalist and his camera operator, and it said the pair were reportedly injured but are in good health. The BBC said Israeli strikes in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Roummane killed at least 12 people, with the Lebanese health ministry reporting 11 deaths including two children and four women.
The BBC quoted Lebanese President Joseph Aoun warning that the "dangerous escalation" was jeopardising June's US-brokered ceasefire, and it said he urged the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop the attacks. The Associated Press reported that a reporter was on air live near Husseiniyeh in central Nabatiyeh around 8 p.m. when the second strike hit nearby, and it said the footage has widely circulated online.
Ceasefire fragility and legal stakes
The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was alarmed by the escalation in Israeli strikes on Gaza and Lebanon, and it warned that at least four journalists were injured, including three on Sunday. CPJ said Lebanese correspondent for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar TV Ali Chbib and camera operator Mohammed Barjawi sustained cuts and bruises on their limbs from flying debris when an Israeli drone struck a parking lot in Nabatieh at around 6 pm. CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah said, "These attacks show that ceasefires have done little to protect journalists from the dangers of reporting in Gaza and Lebanon,".
The BBC reported that the Israeli military said it struck infrastructure sites belonging to Hezbollah and "several terrorists" transferring weapons in retaliation for a drone attack on troops in an occupied area of the country. In the ABC News & Headlines account, Human Rights Watch’s Lebanon researcher Ramzi Kaiss described border villages during the previous ceasefire as "ghost towns where quite literally not a single building is still left standing," and he said the destruction stretched until after a ceasefire had gone into effect.