Israel Pushes Deeper Into Lebanon | “Banned” Phosphorus Shells Strike Southern Villages | VERTEX

Ajouté : 2026-05-07

[00:00:01]White phosphorus, banned for use over civilians, is falling on Lebanese towns.

[00:00:07]The banned weapon is devastating, and it continues to rain down on civilian towns.

[00:00:12]Villages are being leveled in southern Lebanon, and the sky still burns.

[00:00:17]This isn't a breakdown of the ceasefire.

[00:00:19]This is the ceasefire. [music] >> [music] >> A ceasefire is supposed to mean the guns go quiet. In southern Lebanon, they have not.

[00:00:36]Israeli forces have shelled towns in the Bint Jbeil district with white phosphorus munitions, a weapon banned under international law for use in civilian areas.

[00:00:46]The towns of Kaounine and Beit Yahoun were struck by phosphorus artillery.

[00:00:50]Simultaneously, Israeli warplanes launched air strikes across the Tyre district, hitting Kafra, Barachit, and Safad al-Battikh.

[00:00:59]In Mansouri, three separate raids targeted residential homes.

[00:01:03]The attacks come despite a ceasefire announced on April 17th and extended until May 17th. They are not exceptions.

[00:01:11]They are the pattern.

[00:01:14]The Israeli army itself has acknowledged striking approximately 500 areas across Lebanon since the ceasefire came into effect, all but one of them in the south.

[00:01:24]According to the Israeli army's own figures, five IDF soldiers have been killed and 33 injured by Hezbollah since the truce began.

[00:01:33]With three soldiers killed by explosive drones and two by improvised explosive devices.

[00:01:39]The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reported that 17 people were killed in the 24 hours to Monday alone.

[00:01:46]>> [music] >> Since March the 2nd, the total death toll from Israeli attacks stands at 2,696 with 8,264 people wounded.

[00:01:56]>> [music] >> On the ground, Israel has pushed roughly 10 km into Lebanese territory and shows no indication of withdrawing.

[00:02:04]Journalists taken to one of the army's deepest positions at Ras al-Bayada on the coastal road near Tyre found Israeli flags planted along the route and entire structures demolished.

[00:02:15]The IDF says it has razed villages across the zone on the orders of Defense Minister Israel Katz to prevent Hezbollah from using the area to stage attacks. During the press visit, a Hezbollah drone struck the position, sending reporters back across the border.

[00:02:31]The commander of the IDF's 226th reserve paratroopers brigade, identified only by the initial Aleph, told reporters why the army believes it needs to be this far inside Lebanese territory.

[00:02:44]We are here so that this will not be a tangible threat on the home front, and we are dealing here with this threat, and it is mainly mainly directed at us.

[00:02:52]His battalion commander was more direct about the logic driving the occupation of Lebanese land. Neither officer could say how long Israel intends to stay.

[00:03:01]What is clear is that the ceasefire, at least as the word is commonly understood, has not arrived in southern Lebanon.

[00:03:09]White phosphorus is falling on civilian towns.

[00:03:13]Defending from the goal line or the line of the communities sometimes isn't enough. And we can't let big problems grow.

[00:03:19]Villages are being leveled, and the dead keep being counted on both sides of a border that Israeli troops crossed months ago and have not left.

[00:03:36]A fragile ceasefire is once again under strain as violence erupts across southern Lebanon. With deadly clashes between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces raising fresh fears of escalation in an already volatile region.

[00:03:52]Fighters from the Hezbollah militant group have carried out a series of operations against Israeli military forces in southern Lebanon, causing several casualties.

[00:04:02]According to Israeli Hebrew language media outlets, a number of troops from the elite Golani Brigade were killed and wounded on the afternoon of May 4th after Hezbollah fighters targeted them with barrages of artillery shells, rockets, and machine gun fire.

[00:04:19]Lebanon's official national news agency reported that violent clashes broke out between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces in the towns of Deir Siriane and Zawtar in the Wadi Raj district.

[00:04:32]The ground battle is said to be ongoing, involving small arms fire and rocket exchanges as both sides continue to engage.

[00:04:41]The escalation comes shortly after Israeli fighter jets carried out strikes on multiple locations in southern Lebanon.

[00:04:48]There was no immediate information regarding casualties or the extent of damage from those initial air raids.

[00:04:55]However, local Lebanese sources stated that the aerial assaults hit the villages of Kalaat Ouaiye, Qana, and Deir Ambel while Israeli artillery units also shelled areas, including Beit Yahoun, Barachit, and Yater.

[00:05:12]Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health later confirmed that four people were killed after two Israeli air strikes targeted Yom al-Shaqif.

[00:05:22]In a separate incident, at least two more people were reported killed in an Israeli strike on the town of Shhour in the Tyre district.

[00:05:32]Israeli warplanes continued their bombardment, striking several villages, including Srifa, Kalaat Ouaiye, Zawtar al-Sharqiya, Touline, Shhour, and Barachit, further intensifying the situation on the ground.

[00:05:50]Amid the escalating violence, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee issued an urgent warning, ordering the immediate evacuation of four villages in southern Lebanon.

[00:06:02]Residents were instructed to move at least 1 km away from their homes as a precaution against further military operations.

[00:06:11]Hezbollah, in response, stated that it had launched multiple operations targeting Israeli troop gatherings and positions in southern Lebanon.

[00:06:20]The group said it used a combination of kamikaze drones and rockets, describing the attacks as retaliation for what it called Israeli aggression and repeated violations of the ceasefire.

[00:06:33]The renewed hostilities come despite a recent agreement to extend the ceasefire for 3 weeks following a high-level meeting at the White House, as confirmed by United States President Donald Trump on April 23rd.

[00:06:54]>> [music] >> Hezbollah has carried out a wave of attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon over the [music] weekend, hitting troop positions, military vehicles, and command bases across multiple towns near the border. [music] The Iran-backed group launched two waves of attack drones at Israeli troop gatherings [music] in al-Naqoura, claiming confirmed hits on both occasions.

[00:07:18]Hezbollah said its fighters struck a Namer armored personnel carrier carrying an Israeli army command crew with an FPV drone, scoring a direct hit. Later, rocket barrages hit troop gatherings near the Houla school and in the town square of al-Qantara. Hezbollah said the attacks were in retaliation for Israeli ceasefire violations that killed and wounded civilians in southern Lebanon.

[00:07:43]On May 2nd alone, Israel was reported [music] to have killed more than 40 people in Lebanon.

[00:07:48]As Hezbollah retaliated, the sirens sounded in Israeli settlements near the Lebanese border following missile launches, [music] reportedly sending residents scrambling for cover.

[00:07:58]It is against this backdrop that Israel has quietly begun rolling [music] out a new counter-drone system.

[00:08:05]The Israeli military has started deploying the [music] Iron Drone Radar, an automated, AI-driven interceptor developed by the company Aerobotics, along the Lebanese front.

[00:08:16]The system pairs radar with interceptor drones [music] to detect and pursue incoming threats.

[00:08:22]Once a target is locked, operators can release a net that captures the drone midair, deploying a parachute to bring it down without triggering an explosion.

[00:08:31]The move comes as Hezbollah has been using drones guided by fiber optic cables, which are resistant to conventional jamming, leaving existing Israeli counter-drone [music] systems struggling to cope. One Israeli military official acknowledged the limitations [music] to Haaretz.

[00:08:47]The IDF's existing counter-drone technology either cannot sufficiently address the threat or that they are not always sufficiently available. The Iron Drone's use of radar and kinetic interception methods is intended to counter the fiber optic drone's immunity to jamming. Over the past week alone, two Israeli soldiers and a Defense Ministry contractor were killed [music] in drone strikes with more than 15 troops wounded.

[00:09:13]Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the issue directly on May 3rd, announcing plans to invest the equivalent of roughly 119 billion US dollars in weapons [music] and domestically developed aircraft over the coming decade.