An Israeli soldier smiles at the destruction of St. Joseph\u2019s Church in Qawzah, Lebanon<\/p>\n
Months after an ostensible \u201cceasefire\u201d agreement was signed by Marco Rubio\u2019s State Department, the U.S. Army Infantry School-trained President of Lebanon Joseph Aoun, and the government of Israel, Israeli occupation forces continue to occupy much of southern Lebanon, demolish entire villages with C4 explosives, and perpetrate massacres of civilians.<\/p>\n
Under the terms of the Rubio ceasefire, Israel has permission to continue occupying what is called a \u201csecurity zone,\u201d while Lebanese forces are deputized to accomplish the objective of \u201cdisarming\u201d Hezbollah. Only once Hezbollah is disarmed must Israel redeploy from Lebanon. The agreement was designed to supplant the terms<\/a> of the Iran-U.S. MOU negotiated in Switzerland by J.D. Vance and signed on June 17, 2026, which tied the end of the Iran War to the \u201cimmediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon\u201d and on \u201censuring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n As Lebanese journalist Mohamad Kleit explained to Dragnet<\/em>, Lebanese forces have only replaced Israeli occupation forces in three southern villages while Israel\u2019s wholesale destruction of villages continues unabated. A recent New York Times<\/em> investigation reported that \u201c48 of the roughly 60 villages and towns within Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon are mostly leveled,\u201d noting that \u201cof the 48 villages that have been mostly destroyed, almost all are majority Shiite.\u201d<\/p>\n While corporate media frames the Israeli destruction of those villages and the thousands of civilian casualties Israel has produced as incidental to Israel\u2019s fight with Hezbollah, public statements by Israeli officials reveal what Lebanese human rights activists call \u201cinherent systematic targeting\u201d which \u201cthere can be no doubt is deliberate.\u201d Boasting of the destruction of more than 23,000 homes on Israeli television, Israel\u2019s Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated<\/a> his longstanding position that Israel seeks to impose what he calls \u201cthe Gaza model\u201d in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n As Israel continues to advance through southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire, Israeli commentators and Lebanese lawmakers alike have said the agreement is designed not to end the conflict but to fuel it, potentially leading to sectarian conflict and civil war.<\/p>\n When the deal was signed, an Israeli analyst remarked<\/a> on Israel\u2019s Channel 13 that \u201cit seems we\u2019re leading the state of Lebanon into civil war,\u201d adding \u201cmaybe it\u2019s not so bad for us, let the Lebanese government fight Hezbollah,\u201d to which his co-host replied that this was \u201cthe goal from the start.\u201d<\/p>\n Most recently, Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt admitted<\/a> that \u201cwe made a mistake by choosing Marco Rubio\u2019s track,\u201d because \u201cbelieving that the Americans can pressure Israel to withdraw is a complete illusion.\u201d Jumblatt, a former self-admitted <\/a>warlord responsible for what Jumblatt himself calls \u201creligious cleansing and mass destruction\u201d is no fan of Hezbollah. Yet he now believes he \u201ccannot accept a hardline approach toward Hezbollah if it leads to civil war.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, Lebanon is historically ripe for civil war, a consequence of its French imposed system of confessionalism in which political positions are constitutionally divided by religious sect: the President must be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister must be a Sunni Muslim, and the Speaker of Parliament must be a Shia Muslim. As the Beirut-based war correspondent Robert Fisk argued<\/a> (he passed away in 2020), confessionalism is one of the root causes of suffering in Lebanon \u2013 with the country being the site of some of the most devastating sectarian massacres of the late 20th century. It \u201cmay have beautiful mountains, fine food, an extraordinarily well-educated population, but it is sectarian. It\u2019s a bit like owning a Rolls Royce complete with fresh leather seats, a flat screen television and a cocktail bar \u2013 but with square wheels. It doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s current occupation has exploited these sectarian fault lines, issuing orders seemingly designed to inflame inter-sect animosities. As The New York Times<\/em> reported<\/a> in April, 2026,<\/p>\n \u201cIsraeli officials have conveyed a [sic] targeted message\u2026 In private calls to local leaders across southern Lebanon, Israeli military officials have assured several Christian and Druse communities that they could remain in the evacuation zone. They have pressed them, however, to force out any Lebanese from neighboring Shiite Muslim communities who have sought refuge among them as Israeli bombardments flatten Shiite towns, according to local Christian, Druse and Shiite leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n When Israel destroys Christian villages, demolishing churches and statues of Jesus Christ, Israel blames Hezbollah \u2013 the militant group who Shia historically support<\/a> \u2013 for allegedly using them as shelter areas, and some<\/a> \u2013 but not all \u2013 Christians in Lebanon have accepted that excuse. Our own various<\/a> investigations<\/a> at Dragnet<\/em>, the substack from this author and Jeremy Loffredo, reveal that what Israel labels \u201cHezbollah\u201d are usually just Shia families, who often have little or no connection to the group at all. Just as Israel labels the tens of thousands of Palestinians its military killed in Gaza as \u201cHamas,\u201d Israel likewise uses \u201cHezbollah\u201d as a rhetorical device to justify its targeting of Shia families. Unlike Israeli statements targeting American audiences, the distinction between \u201cHezbollah\u201d and Shia Muslims is almost non-existent in Hebrew media, with Defense Minister Katz telling<\/a> Israeli Channel 14 News in July that in 24 villages destroyed in Lebanon, \u201cthere were Shiites who acted as enemies on behalf of Hezbollah and threatened our borders, our residents, and constantly carried out provocations.\u201d<\/p>\n There are Christian leaders in Lebanon who reject Israel\u2019s attempts to inflame sectarian divisions. One of them is Father Tony Hanna, whose church and village of Qaouzah was demolished<\/a> by Israeli occupation forces in November 2024. Last week, a photo went viral of an Israeli soldier smiling in front of Hanna\u2019s church.<\/p>\n Father Tony Hanna tells Dragnet<\/em> that while armed groups have existed around the town, he does not view it as an excuse, nor does he blame Shia Muslims for Israel\u2019s destruction of the town. \u201cThe Muslims in general and the Shiite sect, we have all respect and love for them, and there are deep friendships and close relationships with many\u2026. Let the words be more than clear\u2026 We have never said that Islam, the Muslims, or our Shiite brothers are the ones who demolished the church or because of them\u2026. we are the sons of one nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Two weeks before Israeli forces demolished Qaouzah, an Israeli airstrike hit the Church of Saint George the Wonderworker in Deirdghaya, a Melkite Greek Catholic church in the Tyre District built in 1911. The strike<\/a>, on the night of October 9, 2024, targeted the square beside the church, according to Georges Elia, a social activist at the church who lives in the village\u2019s historic neighborhood. It damaged the church\u2019s fa\u00e7ade and collapsed its multi-story parish hall, which \u201chad also been used to shelter displaced civilians,\u201d adding that the strikes also \u201caffected the priest\u2019s residence and the parish office building.\u201d\u2028 Lebanese media reported<\/a> an initial death toll of seven, including five Civil Defense members.<\/p>\n Elia tells Dragnet<\/em> that on Christmas, 2024, he \u201ctook the initiative to place a simple Christmas tree amid the ruins of the church. My intention was to preserve the spirit of Christmas and convey a message that damage to a building does not mean the end of the village\u2019s spiritual and social life.\u2028\u201d<\/p>\n It was not the first time the Church had been bombed by Israel. Elia said Israeli forces had struck the church during the 1978 invasion, destroying its western wall, and again in 1992, when bombardment destroyed the attached parish building and cracked the dome. He called the 2024 strike \u201cthe most destructive attack in the church\u2019s recent history.\u201d<\/p>\n As Elia explains to Dragnet<\/em>, \u201cthe destruction was not limited to stones and walls. It affected a place that had served as a space for worship, gatherings, solidarity, and welcoming people in need and displaced families.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Father Hanna in Qaouzah, Georges Elia says that \u201cdamage to a building does not mean the end of the village\u2019s spiritual and social life.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about the attempt to blame Shia Muslims or \u201cHezbollah\u201d for the attacks on Christian\u2019s communities, Elia declined to comment, telling Dragnet,<\/em> \u201cI do not wish to engage in political or sectarian debates. I respect all components of Lebanese society and believe that coexistence and mutual respect among all citizens are fundamental.\u201d<\/p>\n But complicating the narrative Israel seeks to impose upon Lebanon is the role Hezbollah has often played protecting Lebanon\u2019s and Syria\u2019s Christian communities. As the Pro-Israel Wall Street Journal begrudgingly admitted<\/a> in 2015, \u201cChristians in the Lebanese village of Al-Qaa depended on army troops to shield them from nearby ISIS militants. Another source of protection: Shiite militants in Hezbollah\u2026 The village\u2019s main priest, Father Elian Nasrallah, and others, are promoting the idea that Hezbollah, unlike Sunni extremists, has\u00a0always been a friend of Christians.\u201d As Father Elian Nasrallah explains in the video report \u201cHezbollah was never a danger for Christians.\u201d And as BBC reported<\/a> in 2014, Hezbollah was instrumental in expelling \u201cal-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front,\u201d also referred to by BBC as \u201crebels\u201d \u2013 whose leader Al-Jolani is now President of Syria \u2013 from the Christian village of Maaloula.<\/p>\n These factors explain why many Lebanese Christians do not view the pretext of \u201cfighting Hezbollah\u201d as an excuse for Israel\u2019s destruction of their communities. And as the U.S. funds and backs that Israeli effort, Iran \u2013 historically allied with Hezbollah \u2013 has demonstrated itself as the region\u2019s only guarantor of Lebanon\u2019s territorial integrity, continuing to tie an end to the Iran War to an Israeli withdrawal from the south.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Harrison Berger is an independent journalist who has contributed to Drop Site News, The American Conservative, and The Nation. Previously, he was a researcher and producer for System Update with Glenn Greenwald. His work focuses on civil liberties and U.S. foreign policy. He holds a BA in Political Science and Russian Studies from Union College (NY).<\/em><\/p>\n If you liked this article please support AntiWar.com<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n