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The claim: The Israeli army's elite Golani Brigade is said to have vandalized a stele (a stone monument) in Houla commemorating the names of the victims of Israel's 1948 massacre in this southern Lebanese village. Spray-painting the words: "A good Shia is a dead Shia."
Who is behind the claim?
The photo has been circulating on social media, shared mostly among Lebanese accounts.
Key context/the actual facts:
• The president of the Houla municipal council, Shakib Koteish, confirmed the desecration of the plaque by the Israeli army, adding that another memorial to the Houla massacre, a six-metre-high structure, had been completely destroyed by the Israeli army, though he did not specify when exactly this occurred.
• Financed by the Council for South Lebanon, the memorial was erected in Houa, Marjayoun district, in 2002, during a ceremony presided over by Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri.
• On Oct. 31, 1948, militants from Haganah (the main Zionist militia group in Palestine, which became the core force of the Israeli army in 1948) disguised themselves soldiers from nationalist Faouzi Kaoukji's Arab Relief Army, surrounded and then attacked the village of Houla. For two days, they massacred its inhabitants, including women, children and the elderly, killing 80 people. They then rigged the village's 250 homes with explosives and destroyed them.
• Since launching its ground offensive in southern Lebanon in late September, the Israeli army has attacked several villages, including Houla, located less than two kilometers from the border. It recently blew up entire neighborhoods of the village, which comprised some 15,000 inhabitants before the war.
In summary: True, false or misleading?
We have concluded that the claim is true.
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