Inside southern Lebanon's villages where Israeli occupation has upended daily life

Amna Nawaz:

An Israeli strike in Southern Lebanon today killed 12 people, including two children.

The IDF said a weapons transfer was under way in the targeted building. Farther south, the IDF has destroyed dozens of villages in its occupied territory, many of them home to Shia Muslims.

Special correspondent Simona Foltyn and videographer Adrian Hartrick report from three villages near Israel's occupation zone demarcated by the so-called Yellow Line.

Simona Foltyn:

From her backyard, Ashwak looks out on neighboring villages the Israeli army has destroyed, emptied and still occupies.

Ashwak Dabaghi, Marjayoun, Lebanon, Resident:

There is no stability. There is no relaxing. Always stress out. Always keep this bag. Maybe, after one hour, hey, we need to go. If I don't have children, I swear to God, never live Marjayoun.

Simona Foltyn:

Marjayoun is a Christian town in Southern Lebanon. Most villages in this border region, however, are Shia Muslim and have historically supported Hezbollah, a Shia militant group that emerged with Iranian backing in response to Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

Israel's latest military campaign has inflicted unprecedented devastation on those Shia communities. In stark contrast, Christian villages like Marjayoun have been left largely intact.

Despite the war around them, Ashwak, her husband, Victor, and their two children, Georges and Giselle, try to lead a normal life. But nothing about this is normal.

Ashwak Dabaghi:

Sorry, guys.

Simona Foltyn:

Ashwak feels they are caught between Israel and Hezbollah.

Ashwak Dabaghi:

Leave us. We want to stay here. We want to live in peace. I'm not with Israel. I'm not with Hezbollah. I'm not with anybody. I'm with my family.

Simona Foltyn:

A family of dual Lebanese-American citizens who could have returned to the United States long ago. But this is their home, and they dread what might happen to it unattended.

Beyond their fence lies a stern warning. The Shia village of Dibbin has been largely destroyed, in what many here see as collective punishment of the Shia community who support Hezbollah.

Ashwak Dabaghi:

They don't deserve this. Even if them with Hezbollah, nobody deserves to lose her house, her family, her dreams. Even if you stay here, you look. We don't want to live like that.

Simona Foltyn:

During previous bouts of fighting in this area, the family did leave for the Lebanese capital for a few weeks. Victor put up surveillance cameras to keep an eye on the property.

This is down there?

Victor Dabaghi, Marjayoun, Lebanon, Resident:

That's down there, yes.

Simona Foltyn:

And what he saw shook the family.

Victor Dabaghi:

All right, here's the guy. One of them is waiting by my pickup truck where the main door is, and the other one coming up towards the camera running with his mask on. This is the guy's face.

Simona Foltyn:

Victor is an Iraq War U.S. Army veteran. He believes that man was a Hezbollah fighter who tried to use their house to launch attacks on Israel.

Victor Dabaghi:

What intentions could they have breaking a camera, a security camera inside my own private property?

Simona Foltyn:

Are you worried that your house could have become a target for Israeli strikes?

Victor Dabaghi:

Of course. Israel is watching their moves, and their mission is to finish them here in Lebanon.

Simona Foltyn:

As part of this mission, dozens of Shia villages where Hezbollah used to be present have been completely razed by the Israeli Army. Israel's defense minister has said this is a replica of his Gaza strategy following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

And speaking to Israel's Channel 14, Israel Katz referred to Lebanon's Shia population as enemies.

Israel Katz, Israeli Defense Minister (through interpreter):

Twenty-four Lebanese villages that were hundreds of years old were Shiite residents who acted as enemies on behalf of Hezbollah and threatened our borders and our residents and constantly provoked. We destroyed all of the buildings. Not one house -- they have got not one house. The criminalization of all these villages is complete.

Simona Foltyn:

A recent U.N. report expressed alarm over such remarks and urged Israeli officials to seize rhetoric that dehumanizes the population of Lebanon and that legitimizes collective punishment on grounds of ethnic origin.

The IDF rejects that characterization, despite the defense minister's statement, telling the "News Hour" that: "The IDF operates in accordance with international law and directs a strike solely against Hezbollah and not against the Lebanese state or its civilians" and that it "categorically rejects claims of collective punishment and ethnic cleansing."

But the reality on the ground remains that the south has been emptied of Shia Muslims. We drive onwards to the adjacent village of Qlayaa. Like in Marjayoun, the Israeli Army has allowed the Christians here to stay on certain conditions. One of those conditions is that filming around Qlayaa, where the Israeli military operates, is strictly forbidden.

Amin Saeed, Qlayaa Village Chief (through interpreter):

People have become so panicked. As soon as they see a camera, they panic more. Just now, several people called me: "Amin, you have a camera in the car."

Simona Foltyn:

Amin Saeed is the village chief and among the enforcers of the Israel Defense Force's new rules. Since we can't interview him out on the street, we decided to go for a ride along the main road.

Amin Saeed (through interpreter):

They are controlling us from all sides. Here in the heart of the village, we can move, but we can't go towards the olive groves on one side, and we also can't go to the river on the other side.

Simona Foltyn:

The IDF regularly sends voice notes to the municipality. In one of these voice notes obtained by the "News Hour," the Israeli Army instructed Qlayaa's municipality to not shelter residents from neighboring Shia villages.

IDF Voice Note (through interpreter):

You need to pull yourselves together and prevent the return of strangers and Hezbollah elements to your lands. If you do not do this, we cannot guarantee your lives in the town.

Simona Foltyn:

The villagers set up informal checkpoints like this one to implement Israel's directives. Turned away by their Christian neighbors, some displaced Shia civilians have found refuge in this school further away from the border.

Zeinab previously rented a house in Qlayaa, but was asked to leave by its Christian residents in line with Israel's instructions.

Zeinab Ahmed, Displaced from Khiyam (through interpreter): They kicked us out because Israel threatened them. When they threatened them, they kicked us out, because we are Shia.

Simona Foltyn:

Zeinab and Samira have helplessly watched the destruction of their community on their phones.

Samira Jarmaki, Displaced from Khiyam (through interpreter): There isn't a single house left. I even saw the photo. There's just wiped out land and the Israeli tanks and armed vehicles are parked there. All my family, my brothers, their houses are gone. If we return, where would we go? Where?

Simona Foltyn:

Their village, Khiyam, is occupied by Israeli forces, but we managed to film it from a distance. Only piles of rubble are visible through our zoom lens. While Shia villages have been demolished, Sunni and Christian villages are subject to tightening Israeli control.

We're driving towards the Yellow Line, right up to the occupation zone the Israeli army has established across vast swathes of Southern Lebanon, similar to the model they have implemented in Gaza.

Our destination is Kfarchouba, a Sunni Muslim village surrounded by Israeli positions. To see just how difficult life has become here, we joined the municipality on a maintenance trip to the water pumping station. The facility is a 10-minute ride from the center of town. It's the only source of water for the residents.

Mohammed Hassan Al-Hajj is in charge of maintenance.

Mohammed Hassan Al-Hajj, Member, Kfarchouba Municipal Council (through interpreter):

We brought diesel to run the generator so we can pump the water for the people of Kfarchouba.

Simona Foltyn:

Every time they come here, they risk encounters with the Israeli Army, which has taken the hill right across the water station. Traces of Israeli tanks mark the road. Bullets from Israeli machine guns dot the water station's walls.

Mohammed was already arrested once.

Mohammed Hassan Al-Hajj (through interpreter):

About 15 soldiers arrived here and immediately got out with weapons. They surrounded us and grabbed us. He started pushing me from here to this corner.

Simona Foltyn:

He says he was blindfolded, taken to an Israeli base, tied up on the floor for several hours and interrogated.

Mohammed Hassan Al-Hajj (through interpreter):

He said: "What were you doing there?" I told him: "We are pumping water for the town."

He said: "Didn't we know it's forbidden to go there?"

Simona Foltyn:

In response to questions by the "News Hour," the IDF said that Mohammed repeatedly approached an area in which IDF operations were taking place, and that the detention was carried out due to security concerns.

What would happen if you were not able to come here to this well and maintain the infrastructure here?

Mohammed Hassan Al-Hajj (through interpreter):

If we don't come here to pump water, the people won't be able to survive without water. And they will be forced to leave.

Simona Foltyn:

The municipality is trying to prevent just that, but the civilians who've remained here risk their lives every day, be it to secure water, farm their fields, or simply drive back home.

Back in the Christian village of Qlayaa, a memorial was under way for three Israeli strike victims. Tea (ph) D'aibes, her brother Tony and their father, James, were killed in an Israeli strike in June. They were returning from Beirut, where the two students had gone to take their university exams.

They left behind their mother, now without children and without a husband. She interrupted the sermon, desperately demanding answers that nobody here could give. Her brother-in-law agreed to speak in her place.

Youssif D'Aibes, Relative of Israeli Strike Victim (through interpreter): Why is a young man in the prime of his life and his sister in the prime of hers, university students about to finish their specialties, one of them a doctor, why are they killed on the road in cold blood? They didn't pose a threat to anyone.

Simona Foltyn:

The IDF did not answer the "News Hour"'s questions about the killings. Though the family blames the IDF for the deadly strikes, they agree with Israel on one thing: Hezbollah must be disarmed.

Youssif D'Aibes (through interpreter):

Everyone has a right to their home and land and they must return. But under the umbrella of the state and a clear, strong law, we can no longer tolerate chaos.

Simona Foltyn:

Israel and Lebanon have been through intermittent conflict for decades. Next door in Marjayoun, Ashwak believes there's only one solution.

Ashwak Dabaghi:

Let's do peace with Israel.

Simona Foltyn:

And if you were to say this, let's do peace with Israel, how would it be perceived by your Shia neighbors?

Ashwak Dabaghi:

If you are not with them, they said you're -- are you working with Israel? No, I'm not working with anybody. Just I want to stay here. I want to stay in my home.

Simona Foltyn:

But staying is becoming harder every day, as Israeli troops show no signs of leaving.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Simona Foltyn in Southern Lebanon.