Satellite view of Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon, dated May 18, 2026. (Image provided to L'Orient-Le Jour by Planet Lab)
"When I saw this video, I first thought it was Gaza. Then, I realized that no, it’s Bint Jbeil." Although Maya has grown accustomed to seeing buildings in ruins after nearly three years of war, these images — showing an Israeli drone sweeping over the devastated streets of her hometown in southern Lebanon — were shocking to her. "Until then, we were tracking the scale of the destruction through satellite images. We knew the Israelis had leveled entire neighborhoods. But this was the first time we saw up close just how completely everything has been wiped out," recalls the thirty-something interior designer. Now living in the suburbs of Beirut, she watched from afar as her relatives made a hurried escape on March 2, leaving their homes like hundreds of thousands of southerners following Hezbollah’s rocket fire toward...
"When I saw this video, I first thought it was Gaza. Then, I realized that no, it’s Bint Jbeil." Although Maya has grown accustomed to seeing buildings in ruins after nearly three years of war, these images — showing an Israeli drone sweeping over the devastated streets of her hometown in southern Lebanon — were shocking to her. "Until then, we were tracking the scale of the destruction through satellite images. We knew the Israelis had leveled entire neighborhoods. But this was the first time we saw up close just how completely everything has been wiped out," recalls the thirty-something interior designer. Now living in the suburbs of Beirut, she watched from afar as her relatives made a hurried escape on March 2, leaving their homes like hundreds of thousands of southerners following Hezbollah’s rocket fire...
Washington talks stall on 2nd day over 'pilot zones'