Human Rights Watch calls Israeli attacks on reconstruction equipment in south Lebanon 'war crimes'

BEIRUT — Repeated Israeli attacks on reconstruction equipment and civilian installations in south Lebanon violate the laws of war and amount to war crimes, Human Rights Watch said in a report published Monday.

The organization said it investigated four major strikes between August and October 2025 on sites linked to reconstruction companies. At least three people were killed and 11 others wounded. Witness testimony indicates the attacks “severely hampered reconstruction efforts and attempts by internally displaced people to go back to their homes in southern Lebanon,” the report said.

Fighting between Hezbollah and Israel caused widespread destruction in south Lebanon, as well as in the Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs. More than 10,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed in south Lebanon alone, according to HRW. Several border villages were razed, and residents remain unable to return or even clear debris, the group added.

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“Amid the cease-fire, Israeli forces have carried out attacks that unlawfully target reconstruction-related equipment and facilities,” said Ramzi Kaiss, HRW’s Lebanon researcher.

Human Rights Watch did not find proof of military targets in and around the sites, verifying that some of the machinery was being used for civilian purposes, the report stated. They also did not find any evidence of their use for military purposes by Hezbollah.

The organization based its claim on international humanitarian law, and the International Committee of the Red Cross’s authoritative study of "customary laws of war," which states that warring parties can only target legitimate military objectives

“The mere possibility that equipment could be used in an undefined, future contribution for military purposes, such as to build fortifications, does not constitute a legitimate military target,” the report read. “Individuals who order deliberate attacks on civilian objects and infrastructure are responsible for war crimes.”

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More than 360 machines destroyed

The four attacks examined by HRW in Deir Siryan (Marjayoun), Msayleh and Ansarieh (both Saida) destroyed more than 360 vehicles and heavy machines, including bulldozers and excavators, as well as an asphalt and cement production plant. HRW interviewed 13 people, including company owners, workers, local officials and a state-linked contractor.

The owner of a targeted site in Deir Siryan, Ibrahim Karim, told HRW, “We can’t even clear the rubble [from our sites] because we’re afraid that, if we clear it, more of the machines we’re using for rubble-clearing might be struck.”

The report notes that Hezbollah, in addition to its armed wing, operates civilian institutions, including health and social services, and that thousands of its members are not involved in military activity.

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In statements following each strike, the Israeli army said the equipment was used by Hezbollah or was authorized or intended to be used to rebuild or restore the group’s assets, activities or infrastructure. HRW said the army provided no evidence to support those claims.

HRW said it sent a letter to the Israeli army on Dec. 3, 2025, requesting clarification. The army replied with a question, to which HRW responded, but provided no further answers, the organization said.

HRW called on Israel’s main allies — including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany — to pressure Israel to halt attacks on civilian property and reconstruction efforts. The group urged those governments to suspend military aid and arms sales and impose targeted sanctions on officials credibly implicated in serious crimes.

The organization also urged Lebanese judicial authorities to open national investigations into alleged international crimes and called on the government to accede to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, including by accepting the court’s jurisdiction retroactively from at least Oct. 7, 2023.

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