Israeli Airstrikes Kill At Least Seven In Southern Lebanon, Bulldozes Catholic Convent In Yaroun

Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least seven people and wounded others on Saturday, while the Israeli military bulldozed portions of a Catholic convent in the border village of Yaroun, according to officials cited by the Los Angeles Times and NBC News.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the convent demolition occurred as Israel’s military used bulldozers to destroy parts of the convent that had been empty because of the latest fighting.

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Gladys Sabbagh, the superior general of the Basilian Salvatorian Sisters, said, “What we heard is that it was destroyed with bulldozers,” and she described the convent as including a school closed since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war and a clinic recently moved to the nearby village of Rmeich.

The Los Angeles Times also reported that Israel’s military claimed Hezbollah used the convent to fire rockets toward Israel, while the Catholic Church rejected the assertion, with Rev. Abdo Abou Kassm saying, “We are against all practices against places of worship and churches. These are places to spread peace, love and education,” and adding, “These are not military bases.”

NBC News said Israel’s military issued a new warning for residents of nine southern villages to evacuate, even as the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah remained in place since April 17.

NBC News further reported that the Lebanese state-run National News Agency said an airstrike on a car in Kfar Dajal killed two people, while another hit a home in Lwaizeh killing three, and that two others were killed in a strike on Shoukin.

The Los Angeles Times said the escalation came despite the ceasefire agreement, as Israel continued targeting Hezbollah positions and issued evacuation warnings for nine southern villages.

Across multiple reports, the ceasefire that began April 17 did not stop attacks in southern Lebanon, with each side accusing the other of violations.

The Los Angeles Times said Israel and Hezbollah “have kept up their attacks despite a ceasefire in place since April 17,” and it described new evacuation warnings for nine southern villages.

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NBC News similarly said Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least seven people and wounded others on Saturday “despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah,” and it reiterated that Hezbollah and Israel “have kept up their attacks despite a ceasefire in place since April 17.”

Asharq Al-Awsat English framed the same Saturday pattern as “Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon Saturday came as Israel’s military issued a new warning for residents of nine southern villages to evacuate,” while also stating that “Israel’s military and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have kept up their attacks despite a ceasefire in place since April 17.”

In the same reporting, Israel’s military Arabic-language spokesperson, Lt. Col. Ella Waweya, posted on X that the Israeli air force carried out “about 50 airstrikes over the past 24 hours targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and members.”

The Los Angeles Times added that Hezbollah said it launched a drone attack against Israeli troops who gathered Saturday in a house in the coastal village of Bayed.

La Presse reported that strikes were “daily in southern Lebanon, despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in effect since April 17,” and it said the Israeli army struck “about 70 military structures and dismantled about 50 Hezbollah sites in several sectors.”

The reporting also shows sharp clashes over responsibility and intent, with Israeli military claims and Lebanese Catholic and political responses running in parallel.

In Yaroun, the Los Angeles Times said Israel’s military issued a statement claiming that as the army was destroying Hezbollah infrastructure in Yaroun, “a house that had no religious signs was damaged,” and that soldiers “prevented any further damage from being done” once they knew it was linked to a church.

The same article said the military added that Hezbollah used the compound “in the past to fire rockets toward Israel on several occasions,” and it said it “does not strike religious institutions intentionally.”

Against that, the Catholic Church rejected the military’s claims, with Rev. Abdo Abou Kassm telling the Catholic Center for Information, “We are against all practices against places of worship and churches. These are places to spread peace, love and education,” and insisting, “These are not military bases.”

In a different set of voices, Euronews quoted the Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemning the Majdal Zoun attack, saying that “Israel continues to violate the laws and international conventions protecting civilians.”

The TRT Français report carried a direct denunciation from Joseph Aoun as well, stating, “Israel continues to violate the laws and international conventions that protect civilians,” and it described Aoun’s claim that the killed rescuers were “taking part in a rescue and emergency response mission for the injured from an Israeli air strike targeting a building which also caused the death of civilian residents.”

On the Israeli side, TRT Français included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comment that “We are destroying their terrorist infrastructure, we are killing several dozens of their terrorists, and we have not yet finished,” and it also included Foreign Minister Gideon Saar asserting, “Israel has no territorial aims in Lebanon. Our presence in the areas along our northern border has only one objective: to protect our citizens.”

Casualty figures and the scope of destruction vary across outlets, reflecting different reporting bases and time windows.

Euronews said the Lebanese Health Ministry reported that Israeli airstrikes killed eight people, including three rescuers, in the south on Tuesday, and it specified that the air raid on Majdal Zoun caused five deaths for an initial tally, including three rescuers from the Lebanese Civil Defense who were trapped under the rubble after being struck while carrying out a rescue operation.

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Euronews also reported that two other people were killed and 13 wounded in an Israeli strike in Jebchit, while one person was killed and 15 wounded, including five children and five women, in another strike in Jwaya.

TRT Français, meanwhile, reported “Eight people killed in Israeli strikes,” saying five of the people killed occurred during Israeli strikes on a building in Majdal Zoun and then during the rescue operation, and it said Civil Defense said its three members died “under the rubble” after the Israeli strike on a building.

TRT Français also said the army reported that two soldiers were wounded, and it repeated the Lebanese Health Ministry figures that one person was killed and 15 injured in Jwaya and that two more people were killed and 13 injured in Jibchit.

In a broader cumulative framing, Al Jazeera’s Arabic-language report said Lebanon’s Ministry of Health put the total cumulative toll of Israeli aggression from March 2 to April 27 at 2,521 dead and 7,804 wounded, and it said twelve people were killed and 49 wounded within 24 hours on Tuesday.

La Presse offered another cumulative picture, saying the Israeli strikes have killed more than 2,600 people and displaced more than one million since Hezbollah renewed hostilities on March 2, and it added that since that date, 17 Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon.

Beyond immediate strikes, the reports describe ongoing military actions and infrastructure destruction that shape what comes next for southern Lebanon.

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The Euronews report said Amnesty International urged Israel to stop destroying civilian property after a video circulated online showing Israeli excavators destroying solar panels destined for the border village of Debel and its water station, and it said the Israeli army was investigating the incident after the video circulated.

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Euronews also described Israeli efforts against Hezbollah tunnel networks, saying the Israeli army announced that troops at Qantara had found two Hezbollah terrorist tunnels, built over roughly ten years, extending two kilometers, using more than 450 tons of explosives to demolish them.

Euronews further said Lebanese state media reported that an Israeli detonation left a large crater in Qantara after reporting a major demolition operation in the city, and it described an Israeli military source describing Qantara as a massive underground military installation consisting of a tunnel of 800 meters and another of 1.2 kilometers.

In the same report, Euronews said the tunnels ran beneath civilian infrastructure, including a school and a mosque, and it stated that the tunnels were equipped with dormitories, showers, toilets, kitchens and five meeting rooms, and had been designed, sponsored and paid for by Iran.

Separately, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat English and other outlets described the ceasefire framework and the continued Israeli posture, with La Presse quoting the clause that Israel reserves “the right to take, at any time, all necessary measures in self-defense,” while TRT Français said Israel established a “10-kilometer-deep zone” from its border that the Lebanese are urged to leave, establishing a “yellow line” where anyone present can be killed.

The Reuters-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat report said an Israeli strike targeted “the last bridge linking southern Lebanon to the rest of the country,” blowing up the al-Qasmiyeh Bridge with “no possibility of repair,” and it said the National News Agency reported two successive strikes on the bridge, resulting in its complete destruction.