Extract from ABC News
Satellite images have shown destroyed sites in the South Lebanon village of Aita al-Shaab after months of Israeli air strikes.
The images from private satellite operator Planet Labs PBC, taken on June 5 show at least 64 destroyed sites in Aita al-Shaab. Several of the sites contain more than one building.
Located in southern Lebanon where Hezbollah has a strong backing from Shi'ite Muslims, Aita al-Shaab was a frontline in 2006 when its fighters successfully repelled Israeli attacks during the full-scale, 34-day war.
While the current fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Shi'ite group is still relatively contained, it marks their worst confrontation in 18 years, with widespread damage to buildings and farmland in south Lebanon and northern Israel.
The sides have been trading fire since the Israel-Gaza war erupted in October.
The hostilities have largely depopulated the border zone on both sides, with tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes.
The destruction in Aita al-Shaab is comparable to the damage done in 2006, a dozen people familiar with the damage said, at a time when escalation has prompted growing concern of another all out war between the heavily-armed adversaries.
Israel says fire from Lebanon has killed 18 soldiers and 10 civilians. Israeli attacks have killed more than 300 Hezbollah fighters and 87 civilians, according to Reuters.
But a full-blown war between Hezbollah and Israel wouldn't be in the interest of either side, despite a bit of "huffing and puffing", Ian Parmeter, at Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, Australian National University told the ABC.
"Most military advisers would say [to Israel], do not start another war when you're still caught up with one to the south," he said.
He said Israel would be considering that Hezbollah was stronger than Hamas in Gaza.
"It has 150,000 rockets, missiles and drones at its disposal, and although Israel has a very effective iron and dome defence system, if a large barrage of of these missiles came at populated centre in Israel, it may not be able to shoot them all down," Mr Parmeter said.
Border towns 'unfit for living'
At least ten of Hezbollah's dead came from Aita al-Shaab, and dozens more from the surrounding area, according to Hezbollah death notices.
Six civilians have been killed in the village, a security source said.
The village, just 1 kilometre from the border, is among the most heavily bombarded by Israel, Hashem Haidar, the head of the government's regional development agency the Council for South Lebanon said.
"There is a lot of destruction in the village centre, not just the buildings they hit and destroyed, but those around them which are beyond repair," said Aita al-Shaab Mayor Mohamed Srour.
Most of the village's 13,500 residents fled in October, when Israel began striking buildings and woodland nearby, he added.
The bombing campaign has made a swathe of the border area in Lebanon "unfit for living," Mr Haidar said.
During a recent visit to Washington, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that its military was capable of taking Lebanon "back to the Stone Age" in any war with Hezbollah.
But he also insisted his government would prefer a diplomatic solution on the Israel-Lebanon border.
Mr Paremeter said this type of threat if implemented would have international repercussions.
"We've seen that international opinion against Israel has become very critical over.
"If they do exactly the same thing in Lebanon, there will be a lot of criticism because there will be a lot of civilian deaths in doing so, so Israel won't be doing its own image any good," he said.
The Israeli military has said it has hit Hezbollah targets in the Aita al-Shaab area during the conflict.
Israeli military spokesperson Nir Dinar said Israel was acting in self-defence.
Hezbollah had made the area "unliveable" by hiding in civilian buildings and launching unprovoked attacks that made "ghost towns" of Israeli villages, Mr Dinar said.
"Israel is striking military targets, the fact that they're hiding inside civilian infrastructures is Hezbollah's decision," Mr Dinar said.
The military did not give further details of the nature of its targets in the village. It said Hezbollah was escalating attacks, firing more than 4,800 rockets into northern Israel, "killing civilians and displacing tens of thousands."
Hezbollah's media office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The current conflict began a day after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, when Hezbollah opened fire in solidarity with its Palestinian ally. Hezbollah has said it will stop when the Israeli assault on Gaza ends.
Hezbollah-Israel 2006 war
The 2006 war started when Hezbollah fighters infiltrated Israel from an area near Aita al-Shaab, capturing two Israeli soldiers.
A source familiar with Hezbollah's operations said the village had played a strategic role in 2006 and would do so again in any new war. The source did not give more details of the group's activities there.
Hezbollah fighters held out in the village for the entire 2006 war. An Israeli-government appointed inquiry found that Israeli forces failed to capture it as ordered, despite encircling the village and dealing a serious blow to Hezbollah.
Anti-tank missiles were still being fired from the village five days before the war ended, it said.
Throughout northern Israel, about 2,000 buildings have been damaged, the country's tax authority said.
Across the border, some 2,700 homes have been completely destroyed and 22,000 more damaged, significantly below the 2006 conflict, the Council for South Lebanon said, though these numbers were preliminary.
Fires sparked by the fighting have affected hundreds of hectares of farmland and forest either side of the border, authorities said.
Hezbollah, which frequently announces its own strikes, has occasionally used the short-range Burkan, with a warhead of up to 500 kilograms.
Many of the attacks it has announced have used weapons with far smaller warheads, such as guided anti-tank rockets that typically carry warheads of less than 10 kilograms.
Reuters/ABC
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