At the same time, the IDF destroyed the overwhelming majority of buildings in Khiam. According to the military, about 20,000 people lived there before fighting resumed.
Another base has been built in the village of Maroun al-Ras, about two kilometers from Israel’s border. There too, the IDF destroyed the overwhelming majority of the village’s buildings.
The destruction is consistent with remarks made by Defense Minister Israel Katz at a Channel 14 conference, where he said Israel had destroyed 24 Shi’ite villages in south Lebanon. “We destroyed all the buildings, not house by house, no incrimination. All these villages have been completely destroyed, 15,000-20,000 homes,” he said.
In June, Katz said 200,000 Lebanese would not return to their homes. In April, a senior defense official told Haaretz that Israel sought to create a “scorched earth mindset” in the area.
The town of Bint Jbeil in March and in July of 2026. Credit: Planet Labs PBC
Haaretz examined recent satellite images from Planet Labs showing the wiping out of villages and towns across south Lebanon.
The IDF established five bases near the border after the cease-fire with Hezbollah in October 2024. In recent weeks, a soldier or civilian who had been at one of the bases published photographs revealing what one of the outposts looks like from the inside. Despite repeated reports over the years, the IDF has failed to stop such information leaks.
The remaining bases have been established since fighting resumed in March, deeper inside Lebanese territory. In addition to the new bases, the IDF has taken control of several strategic positions in south Lebanon, including Beaufort Castle – a Crusader fortress overlooking the area near the city of Nabatieh – about 10 kilometers from the border. Defense Minister Katz has stressed that Israel will not withdraw from Beaufort. The IDF has also announced that it has taken control of the Christofani Ridge.
The IDF has also carved out 32 kilometers of access roads for logistical transport within the so-called Yellow Line, the northern boundary of the area Israel took over, according to a senior army officer.
Defense Minister Israel Katz talks about Lebanon.
In April, the IDF presented a map of the Yellow Line in Lebanon. In the months since, it has expanded the area under its control, as reflected in the updated map published by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit in June. According to Haaretz’s calculations, the IDF now controls 602 square kilometers in Lebanon. Defense Minister Katz has put the figure at 700 square kilometers.
At the end of June, Israel and Lebanon signed a U.S.-brokered agreement intended to pave the way to “end conflict between them, ensure the sovereignty and security of both countries, and establish peaceful neighborly relations.” Under the agreement, the Lebanese army is to restore its sovereign authority throughout Lebanese territory, subject to the verified disarmament of Hezbollah and the dismantling of its infrastructure. This, in turn, is intended to allow the IDF to withdraw gradually from Lebanon. The agreement stipulated that implementation would begin with a pilot program at two locations near the Yellow Line.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that, under the agreement, Israel would maintain a security zone in Lebanon “until Hezbollah is disarmed and until no further threat to Israel is posed from Lebanon.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed the IDF “to build outposts in south Lebanon as needed, as if we would stay there for 50 years.”
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