A dense smoke rises above the village of Taybeh in South Lebanon, where the Israeli army triggered powerful explosions on October 26, 2024. (Photo AFP)
On Oct. 26, the Israeli army, through its Arabic-speaking spokesperson Avichay Adraee, acknowledged that its 98th division and the "Yahalom engineering unit" used 400 tons of explosives to destroy a "strategic underground military facility that Hezbollah had built over the past 15 years." Although the exact location was not specified, these were undoubtedly the massive, multiple explosions heard in the Odaisseh region (Marjayoun district), with a video of the incident circulating widely on social media.
On the same day, coinciding with these Israeli army attacks, an earthquake alert was sent by the Israeli Geological Institute to 284 localities in Israel, from the north down to the occupied West Bank, over 100 kilometers from the Lebanese border, as reported by the Jerusalem Post. On the Lebanese side, residents throughout the region surrounding Odaisseh felt the ground shake, according to our correspondent in southern Lebanon, Mountasser Abdallah.
"What happened today in Odaisseh, triggering seismographs in northern Israel, is equivalent to altering the natural course in the northern Hula Valley, where the Dead Sea fault splits into the Yammouneh and Roum faults," wrote Lebanese seismologist and professor Tony Nemr on social media platform X. He added, "If it has been decided within this war to ignore all safeguards in military operations, the Israeli war machine should realize that recklessly tampering with natural laws in the wrong place can trigger earthquakes with impacts that won’t stop at national borders."
The Dead Sea fault, also known as the Levant Fault, is one of the major faults in the Eastern Mediterranean, marking the boundary between the Arabian and African tectonic plates. It spans 1,200 kilometers and crosses multiple countries, including Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey. The major earthquakes in Turkey and Syria in February 2023 occurred along branches of this fault line.
Explosions in a Sensitive Area
Tony Nemr explained to L’Orient-Le Jour why the explosions triggered at the specific site of Odaisseh concerned him so much. "When asked whether there is a risk of artificially induced earthquakes following the strong explosions in southern Beirut suburbs that cause tremors felt by residents, I respond that I’m not overly worried, given the distance of that region from the main Yammouneh faults to the east and marine faults on the other side," he said. This is the same assurance the expert provided in early October, after intense strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs.
However, this is not the case with the large-scale explosions caused by the Israeli army’s blasting of an entire area in Odaisseh. "This is a sensitive area where the Levant Fault splits into two major faults, the Yammouneh and Roum faults," he explained. The closer explosions are to major fault lines, the greater the actual risk of a human-induced earthquake, he added.
"This time, it seems we dodged a bullet, but we can’t know how the violence of the explosions has altered the pressure on both sides of the fault," the specialist continued. He emphasized that, in the event of an earthquake, "everyone would be affected, and likely more so on the Israeli side, given that South Lebanon is already largely evacuated of its inhabitants."
The Yammouneh Fault, named after a village in the Bekaa Valley where it is particularly visible, runs across Lebanon for nearly 200 kilometers and has caused major earthquakes according to paleoseismology studies (the study of ancient earthquakes). The Roum Fault, which branches off from this major fault, caused the 1956 earthquake, among others.
