Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned "Israel" for committing apparent war crimes by repeatedly targeting reconstruction-related equipment and civilian facilities in southern Lebanon throughout 2025, despite a ceasefire that came into effect on November 27, 2024, Al-Mayadeen reported.
In a detailed report released from Beirut, the rights organization said the attacks violated the laws of war, obstructed post-war recovery, and prevented tens of thousands of displaced residents from returning to their homes. "The Israeli military’s repeated attacks on reconstruction-related equipment and other civilian facilities in southern Lebanon throughout 2025 violate the laws of war and are apparent war crimes," HRW stated.
According to the report, more than 10,000 buildings in southern Lebanon were heavily damaged or destroyed between October 2023 and January 2025. HRW said that rather than allowing reconstruction to proceed after the ceasefire, Israeli occupation forces continued to strike civilian infrastructure critical to recovery. "Amid the ceasefire, Israeli forces have carried out attacks that unlawfully target reconstruction-related equipment and facilities," said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"After reducing many of Lebanon’s southern border towns to rubble, the Israeli military is now making it much more difficult for tens of thousands of residents to rebuild their destroyed homes and return to their towns," Kaiss added.
HRW investigated four major attacks carried out between August and October 2025, months after the ceasefire took effect. These included strikes on heavy machinery showrooms and maintenance facilities in Deir Seryan, Ansariyeh, and Msayleh, as well as an attack on a cement and asphalt factory in Sinay. The strikes killed three civilians and injured at least 11 others.
Researchers visited the sites, interviewed 13 people, including site owners, mayors, a factory manager, a government contractor, and aid workers, and reviewed contracts and inventory documents. HRW found that the four attacks destroyed more than 360 heavy machines, including bulldozers and excavators, in addition to a major cement and asphalt factory. For each attack, "Israel" claimed the targeted equipment was linked to Hezbollah, asserting it "allowed," "enabled," or was "intended" to be used to rebuild the group’s infrastructure.
HRW said these claims were unsupported.
"Human Rights Watch did not find evidence of military targets in and around the sites," the organization stated, adding that while not every item’s use could be verified, researchers "did not find any evidence of their use for military purposes by Hezbollah."
MNA
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