
Handout picture released by the Israeli army on June 11, 2024. (Credits: AFP)
Footage circulating on social media shows Israeli forces using a trebuchet, a type of catapult, to launch fireballs into southern Lebanon, seemingly to spark fires in the dry vegetation.
Haaretz claimed that the soldiers were, "aiming to burn trees and plants used by Hezbollah to conceal infrastructure and troop activity along Israel's border." A source cited by Haaretz also claimed the Israeli army approved the use of the trebuchet.
The trebuchet is a medieval artillery piece known for its use of a hinged counterweight. It has a greater range than the catapult, is more precise and can launch larger projectiles. First appearing in the 12th century, the trebuchet was Europe's most powerful siege weapon for three centuries until the development of cannons rendered it obsolete.
Various Israeli media have confirmed the use of this medieval technique previously. The Israeli military, however, claimed that "this is a local initiative and not a tool that is widely used," as cited by KAN News. The army added that the area on the Lebanese border is characterized by boulders, thickets, and dense thorn vegetation, posing a challenge to Israeli troops.
Recent intensifying fighting has caused multiple brush fires in southern Lebanon, worsened by regional heatwaves. It was also reported that, as members of the Lebanese Civil Defense fought to extinguish a fire in Dhaira (Sour district), Israeli forces sprayed an accelerant on the flames through a hose thrown over the border wall, a civil defense official told The New Arab.
Since the outbreak of fighting on Oct. 8, the Israeli army has utilized various incendiary weapons, including the constant use of both flare and white phosphorus bombs. Human Rights Watch reported on June 5 that Israel’s widespread use of white phosphorus in southern Lebanon is putting civilians at grave risk and contributing to their displacement.
Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) prohibits the targeted use of white phosphorus against civilians and defines incendiary weapons as those “primarily designed” to set fires and burn people, not for defensive purposes, such as smokescreens.
Hicham Younes, chairman of the local environmental organization Green Southerners, told L’Orient Today that the environmental damage “is greater than that of the 2006 [war],” during which Israel used cluster bombs to strike southern Lebanon.