A plume of smoke after an Israeli airstrike on the village of Kfar Tibnit, in the Nabatieh district, on May 12, 2026. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Israeli fire continues to rain down on southern Lebanon, where airstrikes and drone bombings have killed around ten people in total over the past night and today, while the destruction of occupied villages keeps spreading, notably reaching the Christian village of Deir Mimas (Marjayoun district).
These deadly Israeli strikes killed three people in Jibsheet (Nabatieh), three others in the city of Nabatieh itself, including two rescuers, four in Kfar Dounin (Bint Jbeil), and one more person in Tayr Debba (Sour), according to our correspondent in the region, who also reports about a dozen wounded.
Rescuers deliberately targeted by Israel in Nabatieh
Among these attacks, the three successive Israeli drone strikes targeting Nabatieh hit the entrance to the city’s Civil Defense Center, killing two volunteers, as confirmed by the rescue organization in a statement.
The two men, Ahmad Noura and Hussein Jaber, both from Kfar Tibnit, were targeted by a drone as they tried to help the third victim of this strike (who also died), then trapped under the rubble of the building hit by the first strike. Another rescuer was wounded in the same attack, the Health Ministry said.
Already perpetrated multiple times in Gaza, these double strikes (known as "double-tap") are regularly carried out by the Israeli army to deliberately target rescuers arriving at the scene of a previous strike.
In Jibsheet, drones also killed three people and wounded five. The Lebanese Army announced that one of its soldiers was killed in this strike. Sergeant Major Mohammad Ali Obeid, 45, was from Jibsheet. He was married and father of three. In Tayr Debba, a Syrian national driving a two-wheeler, whose identity has not been released, was killed while riding in the area. In Kfar Dounin, three members of the Nizameddine family, including a child, as well as a fourth person, died in an Israeli air raid that bombed the house they were staying in.
Evacuation orders in the middle of the night
Alongside these deadly strikes, new evacuation orders, which could be considered "forcible transfer" orders of the population under international humanitarian law, have been issued by the Israeli army.
The Israeli army’s Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, twice issued warnings to four villages in southern Lebanon: Hosh, Tayr Debba, Bazourieh (Sour), and Arnoun (Nabatieh), north of the Litani River, all located outside the de facto "buffer zone" imposed by Israel in southern Lebanon.
Another warning regarding the village of Sohmor, in southwest Bekaa, was issued at dawn at 4 a.m., before airstrikes were carried out around 7 a.m., according to our correspondent, but no casualties were reported. The previous day, Monday morning, the Israeli army had already ordered the evacuation of the neighboring village of Mashghara, as well as Qlaya further south.
Other localities hit by Israeli strikes include Deir Qanoun, Ras al-Ain, Mansouri, Arzoun (Sour), Zawtar al-Sharqieh, Qseibeh, Harouf, Kfar Tibnit (Nabatieh), Kafra, Haris, and Srifa (Bint Jbeil), while artillery fire also hit Houla (Marjayoun), Habboush (Nabatieh), as well as Mansouri, Majdal Zoun, Shaaitiyeh, Haniyeh and Qleileh (Sour).
In Arzoun, the strike hit near another rescue team. Five residential units, including a building belonging to the Scouts of the Islamic Mission Association (al-Risala, affiliated with the Amal Movement), were destroyed, while two ambulances and a fire truck were put out of service. No injuries were reported.
Overnight, other villages were bombed, including Jmeijmeh (Bint Jbeil), Majdal Selm, Blat (Marjayoun), as well as the heights of Rihan and the outskirts of Aishieh (Jezzine).
Well destroyed in Deir Mimas
The pace of demolitions carried out daily by Israeli troops in the villages they occupy in the "buffer zone" in southern Lebanon has not slowed. After again demolishing a neighborhood in the city of Khiam (Marjayoun), already largely destroyed, the Christian village of Deir Mimas in the same area and included in the "buffer zone" was also hit by these demolitions.
According to Georges Nakad, former president of the Deir Mimas municipal council, the Israeli army blew up the village well at dawn, thereby depriving the remaining residents of one of their main sources of water supply, he confirmed to our correspondent. He added that these attacks also hit a four-story residential building with eight apartments, belonging to the Greek Orthodox foundation of the town, which was completely destroyed.
Similar demolitions occurred later in the coastal village of Bayyada (Sour), where Israeli troops have established a fixed outpost, regularly targeted by Hezbollah suicide drones.
At least 380 people killed in Lebanon during the ‘cease-fire’
For its part, the militia claimed a total of five attacks since midnight. According to statements published on its “war media” Telegram channel, its fighters struck a Merkava tank in Bayyada (Sour), a group of Israeli soldiers in Houla, and at Deir Siryan “near the Litani River” (Marjayoun), using rocket salvos. Hezbollah also said it carried out two new fiber-optic suicide drone attacks against Israeli soldiers and armored vehicles in the same area.
Since the start of the theoretical cease-fire in Lebanon, supposed to have come into force on April 17, Israeli strikes have killed at least 380 people in Lebanon, according to a count by the Health Ministry. According to the latest official toll published Monday by the Ministry, at least 2,869 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli attacks since the war resumed on March 2, in addition to 8,730 injured. The previous tally cited 2,294 deaths as of April 17, meaning 575 more people have died since then.
