Smoke rises from the site of a series of Israeli airstrikes that targeted the Mansouri area on Aug. 25, 2026. (Credit: Kawnat Haju/AFP)
BEIRUT — Escalation characterizes the situation in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli army launched an intensified assault on two fronts on Wednesday, utilizing its air force, drones, artillery, and demolitions of homes and infrastructure. One front involves Mansouri (Sour), a town situated in the western sector between Sour and Naqoura, divided by the "Yellow Line" imposed by Israel.
The other is the strategic hill of Ali Taher (Nabatieh), overlooking the Galilee Panhandle, located much farther east, about 12 kilometers from the Israeli border, where fighters are believed to remain entrenched in tunnels.
Israel was also still carrying out large-scale demolition operations in the villages it occupied in southern Lebanon.
According to our correspondent in southern Lebanon, informed by the president of the Mansouri municipal council, Haidar Mdaihli, "movements of Israeli vehicles and the intensification of air strikes, artillery shelling and demolitions suggest a full-scale invasion of Mansouri or at least the complete destruction of the deserted locality."
"Until now," he notes, "the occupying force maintained its positions on the outskirts of the village, contenting itself with occasional incursions." An explosion also occurred in the neighboring village of Majdal Zoun, while vehicle movements and demolitions were also reported in Byout al-Siyad, which is also near Mansouri.
In the late afternoon, the Israeli army also dropped a stun grenade over Mansouri and targeted the village with artillery fire. Then, in the early evening, an airstrike hit the town.
Major explosion in Bani Hayyan
The demolitions of homes, infrastructure, and roads have become routine and systematic in the occupied "buffer zone," often impacting the same village multiple times within a single day. For example, this morning, the city of Bint Jbeil in the central sector was targeted by four demolitions carried out by the Israeli army. Recently, Ella Waweya, the Arabic-language spokesperson for the Israeli army, was present at the scene.
On her X account, she claimed that "Israel is not at war with the Lebanese state and has no [territorial] ambitions regarding Lebanon; it is fighting the terrorist organization Hezbollah."
Following these statements, the Israeli army carried out several demolition operations, including a large-scale one in Bani Hayyan. A major explosion in the village of Marjayoun district targeted numerous homes and infrastructure, reports our correspondent in southern Lebanon. Video footage shows thick plumes of smoke rising from the site of the explosion.
In the Bint Jbeil district, infrastructure was also booby-trapped and destroyed in Braasheet. The Israeli army carried out two demolition operations in the coastal town of Byout al-Siyad (Sour district), just south of Mansouri.
In the Marjayoun district, an Israeli bulldozer razed several homes in Houla, according to our correspondent. Houses were also set on fire in several neighborhoods of Khiam, while artillery fire targeted Bani Hayyan and Wadi Slouqi (Marjayoun).
In the same region, the Israeli army proceeded in the late afternoon to destroy houses in the area between the towns of Yohmor al-Shaqif and Deir Siryan, in the eastern sector of the border area.
North of the Litani River, in the Nabatieh district, artillery fire targeted the hill of Dabsheh near Ali Taher. In Habboush, an Israeli drone carrying an unexploded missile was found in the morning, with no immediate information on when it had crashed.
The Israeli army claimed to have “destroyed more than 400 terrorist infrastructures” in recent weeks, according to a propaganda message posted on its Hebrew-language account. In recent weeks, the army destroyed several public buildings, including a school and a medical clinic, in Zawtar Sharqieh, north of the Litani River, on Aug. 12. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stated at the time that the Israeli “pretexts” for carrying out these demolitions were “illogical.”
Reporting contributed by our correspondent in the South, Muntasser Abdallah