A video shared online by the Lebanese NGO Green Southerners shows an Israeli excavator demolishing a convent in the village of Yaroun in southern Lebanon. The video was filmed from a distance because the residents of Yaroun have not been allowed to return.

Since Israel agreed to a ceasefire in its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon in April, the Israeli army has maintained its positions in what it calls a “forward defence zone”, and has continued to demolish buildings it says are used by Hezbollah.

But Lebanese activists say the Israelis have also been destroying religious and historical sites.

The convent destroyed in Yaroun was run by Catholic nuns and contained a school. 

The Israeli foreign ministry said the convent had not been touched, but the photo they showed was of a medical clinic next door. This image shows the clinic untouched and the convent, reduced to rubble.

Shrine destroyed

On April 13, an Israeli air strike hit a Shia Muslim shrine known as Shamoun al-Safa, built at the end of the 11th century. Already damaged by Israeli troops in 2024, the shrine had been partially restored by residents. 

But satellite images taken on April 16 show it totally destroyed.

The NGO Green Southerners has been documenting the damage to historic and religious sites. Hicham Younès, the founder of the organisation, told our team:

“UNESCO has put 39 Lebanese sites on its list for enhanced protection, but that hasn’t changed anything. The shrine of Shamoun al‑Safa and the citadel of Chamaa were already on the list, but that didn’t protect them. The shrine and the minaret were demolished by excavators.”

Concern over the fate of a historic well

The Israeli army says its demolitions target buildings used by Hezbollah as observation posts or for storing weapons. 

Green Southerners is concerned about the fate of a historic well caught between the detonations in the town of Taybeh:

“The well is hundreds of years old. It’s in a spiral shape, with a staircase going down 15 metres or more. It’s one of the most beautiful cultural and archeological sites in the region.”

We contacted the Israeli army. They denied blowing up the well in Taybeh. They said the army takes “extensive efforts” to avoid damaging sensitive sites, but that the Shamoun al-Safa shrine and the Al-Qantara mosque had been used by Hezbollah. They maintain that the convent in Yaroun suffered only “minor damage”.

Read the full story on our website:

Read more‘The aim is to erase our identity’: How south Lebanon’s cultural heritage is going up in smoke