Israel says religious site damaged in south Lebanon operation, charity alleges ‘deliberate’ targeting
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Israel says religious site damaged in south Lebanon operation, charity alleges ‘deliberate’ targeting")
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Mayfadoun in the Nabatieh district on May 2, 2026. Photograph: (AFP)
Israel has continued its strikes in Lebanon despite an April 17 ceasefire that aimed to end more than six weeks of fighting with Hezbollah.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Saturday (May 02) said its troops damaged a “religious building” during operations in southern Lebanon, even as a Catholic charity condemned the incident and alleged deliberate targeting of a place of worship.
According to the military, forces operating in the village of Yaroun caused damage to a structure inside a religious compound while dismantling what it described as “terrorist infrastructure” in the area. The military said the building was hit during operations and claimed there were no visible signs at the time indicating it was a religious site.
Colonel Avichay Adraee, the army’s Arabic-language spokesperson, said once identifying features of another building in the compound were noticed, troops took steps to avoid further damage. He also justified the presence of Israeli forces, alleging that Hezbollah had launched rockets from within the compound towards Israeli territory.
However, French Catholic charity L'Oeuvre d'Orient said the structure was a convent belonging to the Salvatorian Sisters, a Greek-Catholic order linked to the organisation. The group strongly condemned what it described as a “deliberate” act against a place of worship and criticised what it called the systematic destruction of homes in southern Lebanon aimed at preventing displaced civilians from returning.
Responding to the allegations, Israel’s foreign ministry said the site, which it referred to as a monastery, had not been destroyed and remained intact. It also shared an image showing the building standing undamaged.
The development comes days after the Israeli military jailed two soldiers for 30 days for desecrating a statue of Jesus Christ in the Christian village of Debl near the border. A photograph that circulated widely on social media showed a soldier striking the statue with a sledgehammer.
Israel has continued its strikes in Lebanon despite an April 17 ceasefire that aimed to end more than six weeks of fighting with Hezbollah. Under the terms of the truce, Israel retains the right to act against “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks”. Israeli troops are currently operating within a “Yellow Line” zone extending roughly 10 kilometres into Lebanese territory, where demolitions and detonations are ongoing.
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