South Lebanon: 'It’s torture, they are razing our lives before our eyes'

South Lebanon: 'It’s torture, they are razing our lives before our eyes' Laurent Perpigna Iban on Wed, 09/30/2026 - 11:10 Residents of the village of Mansouri are watching helplessly as the Israeli military methodically destroys their town Standing on a hill in the Hanniyeh village in south Lebanon, people from neighbouring Mansouri watch as Israeli occupation forces raze their village (Laurent Iban Perpigna/MEE) Off Day after day, the Israeli-occupied village of Mansouri, perched on a green hill a few kilometres south of the coastal city of Tyre, is slowly disappearing. Already heavily damaged during the war, it is now quite literally being wiped off the map, in a final twist of cynicism, during the ceasefire. The Israeli army, which has made it one of its main theatres of operations for weeks, is sparing no effort: demolitions with explosives and air strikes have followed one another at a relentless pace in recent days, to the despair of the village’s roughly 5,000 inhabitants. The village, which the Israeli army presents as an operational stronghold of Hezbollah, was initially located outside the “Yellow Line”, the “security” demarcation imposed by Israel on Lebanese territory shortly after the latest ceasefire came into effect. Even then, residents Middle East Eye spoke to following the ceasefire feared that the zone would eventually swallow up their village. It now has, although officially only in part: the Yellow Line cuts through Mansouri, dividing it in two. On paper, that is, as the village is now entirely occupied – this summer, all the residents who had returned to the area had no choice but to flee once again, under fire from the Israeli air force, which continues its operations. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The village mayor has denounced in the local press “attacks against residents using artillery, as well as hand grenades and stun grenades dropped by drones”. He himself miraculously su