Sources in Dibil deny any 'secret meeting' between village officials and Israeli army

BEIRUT — After the Israeli Broadcasting Authority (Kan) reported on Sunday that a "secret meeting" took place over the weekend between senior Israeli army officers and officials in the southern Lebanon Christian village of Dibil, a mukhtar of the village told L'Orient Today that he was not aware of any such meeting.

According to Kan, following several incidents in which Israeli soldiers were seen vandalizing religious symbols and infrastructure in Christian villages in southern Lebanon , senior Israeli army officials met with Dibil official to express "their regret for what happened."

This comes as hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah continue despite the cease-fire reached on April 16.

According to the channel, the senior officials expressed regret over a series of incidents involving Israeli soldiers, including smashing a statue of Jesus with a hammer, demolishing solar panels, and arbitrarily damaging civilians' homes, without any operational necessity.

Kan added that the "extraordinary meeting took place under a veil of secrecy, with the identities of the participants being kept secret so as not to put the villagers in direct conflict with Hezbollah."

Contacted by L'Orient Today, a mukhtar of the village said he was is not aware of any meeting between the Israeli army and officials in Dibil. Another source, likewise said that no meeting had taken place.

As dozens of villages in southern Lebanon have become completely inaccessible to civilians after Israel announced last month the establishment of a “Yellow Line,” reminiscent of the line used to demarcate its occupation of half of the Gaza Strip, Dibil remains one of the last still-inhabited villages in the area. Its residents regularly deny the presence of the Israeli army inside the village.

Its surroundings, as the rest of the area, are regularly targeted by destruction carried out by the Israeli army.

A video, dating from April 24, notably showed Israeli military vehicles destroying solar panels near the village. Earlier in April, the Israeli army confirmed that one of its soldiers had vandalized a statue of Jesus, after an image widely circulated online showed a man in Israeli military uniform striking the head of the statue with a sledgehammer, detaching it from the cross to which it was originally affixed.

Moreover, as systematic and widespread Israeli demolitions continue in other villages along the border regions, where Israel intends to establish an Gaza-style occupation “buffer zone,” an article published in Haaretz last week reported numerous acts of vandalism committed by Israeli troops on Lebanese territory.

The Israeli "buffer zone" spans over 600 square kilometers, extends eight to 10 kilometers into Lebanese territory, mostly south of the Litani River. In the area, the Israeli army occupies dozens of villages.