FI;E- A man, right, puts the five months son of Lebanese Civil Defense worker Hussein Ali Satti on his father's coffin who was killed alongside two colleagues in an Israeli strike during his funeral procession in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon. AP
Israel’s occupation army on Saturday issued a forced displacement order for residents of nine southern villages to evacuate. Israel has kept up its attacks in Lebanon despite a ceasefire in place since April 17.
In the border village of Yaroun, Israel’s army used bulldozers to destroy parts of a Catholic convent that had been empty as a result of the latest Israel invasion.
“What we heard is that it was destroyed with bulldozers,” said Gladys Sabbagh, the superior general of the Basilian Salvatorian Sisters. Sabbagh told The Associated Press that the convent included a school that had been closed since the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon, as well as a clinic that was recently moved to the nearby village of Rmeich.
She described the convent as a small compound housing two nuns, who left because of the war. Sabbagh did not have further details as Yaroun’s residents have been displaced.
Catholic Church disputes Israel's version
The Israeli army said a house with no visible religious signs was damaged, and as it often does, it claimed that Hezbollah used the compound in the past to fire rockets toward Israel on several occasions.
The Catholic Church in Lebanon rejected claims that the compound was used for military purposes.
“We are against all practices against places of worship and churches. These are places to spread peace, love and education,” said Rev. Abdo Abou Kassm, director of the Catholic Center for Information. “These are not military bases.”
The demolition at the convent came days after images of an Israeli soldier wielding an ax against the statue of Jesus on the cross and destroying it in the southern Lebanese village of Debel had sparked widespread condemnation, in Lebanon and internationally.
In other parts of southern Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah retaliation continued.
An Israeli airstrike on a car in the village of Kfar Dajal killed two people, while another hit a home in the village of Lwaizeh, killing three. Two others were killed in a strike on the village of Shoukin, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.
The Lebanese Health Ministry said Israel has killed 2,659 people and wounded 8,183 other, since its aggression began two months ago.
Hezbollah said that it attacked with a drone Israeli troops who gathered on Saturday inside a house in the coastal village of Bayed.
Over the past weeks, the Israeli army has been leveling neighborhoods in Lebanese towns and villages.
The Israeli occupation army released a new video that shows soldiers holding an Israeli flag and walking among the destruction of a soccer stadium in the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil. The military claimed on its website that the air force “destroyed the town’s stadium after it was discovered to be booby-trapped.”
Since March 2, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes and launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, occupying dozens of towns and villages along the border.
Since then, Lebanon and Israel have held their first direct talks in more than three decades. A 10-day ceasefire declared in Washington went into effect on April 17. The ceasefire was later extended by three weeks.
* This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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