Melkite bishops raise concern over Israel demolitions in southern Lebanon

Melkite Greek Catholic bishops in Lebanon said Monday they are deeply concerned by reports that Israel has demolished civilian and religious buildings in parts of southern Lebanon under its control, citing allegations that a convent was bulldozed in the village of Yaroun.

In a statement carried by The Associated Press, the Council of Melkite Greek Catholic Bishops in Lebanon urged the Lebanese government and the United Nations to protect the property of civilians and religious institutions. The bishops said the destruction amounted to “a deep wound in the national and human conscience,” and highlighted Yaroun as an example.

The bishops’ statement pointed to Yaroun, where they said officials reported Israeli troops destroyed a Melkite convent earlier this month. Israel took control of border areas in southern Lebanon in its latest war against Hezbollah ahead of a ceasefire on April 17 and has said it aims to root out militants and their infrastructure in the area. It has also asked residents to evacuate villages for their own safety.

Israel’s military has said it does not intentionally target religious institutions. In a statement on Saturday, it said that while destroying Hezbollah infrastructure in Yaroun, it damaged a house without religious signs and that it prevented further damage to the building after recognizing it was linked to a church. The military said the building was part of a compound that Hezbollah militants had used in the past to fire rockets toward Israel, and it released photographs it said showed an intact building at the site.

Adib Ajaka, a Christian community leader in Yaroun, told The Associated Press that the photographs Israel posted were of another building next to the convent, which he said housed a clinic and an archbishopric, and that the Israeli military bulldozed the convent. Ajaka said he provided the news organization with a photograph showing rubble next to the clinic building that he said were the remains of the convent, and the Israeli military did not immediately respond Monday to questions about the convent.

Ajaka, along with a municipal official from Yaroun and Gladys Sabbagh, the superior general of the Basilian Salvatorian Sisters who had used the convent, told The Associated Press that, according to news they received, the convent had been bulldozed while residents were evacuated from the area. The municipal official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The French Catholic charity L’Oeuvre d’Orient condemned what it called the “deliberate act of destruction of a place of worship and the systematic destruction of homes in southern Lebanon aimed at preventing the return of civilian populations.” The controversy over Yaroun’s convent has also surfaced in recent reporting, including an MSI-related account of earlier reports that a convent had been bulldozed there here.

Also Monday, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa told reporters that a potential meeting between President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington should not be seen as a concession or a loss for Lebanon. Trump said last month that he would host a meeting between Aoun and Netanyahu, but no date had been set yet, and there has been no official confirmation from Lebanon that Aoun will attend.

The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah began March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after the United States and Israel launched a war on the group’s main backer, Iran. Israel has since carried out hundreds of airstrikes and launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, capturing dozens of towns and villages along the border, while Hezbollah has continued targeting Israel, including northern communities, with missiles and drones.

Israel’s military said Monday that two of its soldiers were injured in a “close-quarters encounter with Hezbollah” in southern Lebanon, adding to tensions around a ceasefire that was declared in Washington on April 17 and later extended by three weeks.

In Lebanon, the health ministry said Monday that the latest Israel-Hezbollah war has killed 2,696 people and wounded 8,264.