Israeli forces wiped out a historic southern Lebanese border village on Wednesday, the first operation of its kind which has sparked outrage in the country.
Videos widely shared online showed a series of massive explosions in Mhaibib, supposedly taken by Israeli soldiers from a distance.
Pillars of smoke filled the air amid the sounds of loud explosions, as Israeli soldiers were heard celebrating as the village was reduced to rubble, according to reports.
Mhaibib sits very close to the Blue Line and neighbours Blida and Mays al-Jabal, other villages which have seen heavy Israeli bombardment and clashes between intruding Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters.
Located in the Marjaayoun district, the tiny hilltop village houses the 2,100-year-old shrine of Prophet Benjamin, son of the Prophet Jacob.
Mhaibib’s mayor Qassem Jaber said he was still unable to assess the extent of the destruction in the village as a result of the explosions, as locals have been unable to return.
Lebanese French daily L'Orient-Le Jour reported that the village's municipal official, known as the mukhtar, had said that residents were still present in Mhaibib, mainly farmers.
Much of south Lebanon’s residents have left their towns and villages.
While Israeli forces have already demolished some buildings like mosques, this is the first time a detonation of this magnitude has taken place.
The Israeli army – without providing evidence – says tunnels belonging to Hezbollah which ran underneath the village were blown up.
It has shared footage in recent days of what it claims to be Hezbollah installations and the confiscation of weapons belonging to the Iran-backed group.
Some analysts believe Israel is trying to enforce its plans to create a buffer zone along the border and are concerned this tactic is being repeated at several localities along the frontier, with some calling it a genocide.
Hezbollah, battered by a month of serious blows, has refused to disarm and pull out of the south, vowing to continue fighting.
Since launching its aerial offensive on Lebanon on 23 September, and since ground incursions began in early October, the Israeli military has issued evacuation orders for dozens of villages across southern Lebanon.
More than 1.2 million have been displaced, mainly from regions where attacks have primarily been concentrated – the south, the eastern Beqaa region, and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
More than a thousand people, among them hundreds of civilians, have been killed in a month since the year-long fighting spiralled into a full-blown war.