ABNA24 - In its media messaging regarding the northern front, the “Israeli” occupation forces [IOF] seek to portray themsleves as acting under the banner of humanitarianism, repeatedly promoting the narrative that their military aggression are focused solely on targets associated with Hezbollah. This narrative is based on distorting facts and developments on the ground to serve its own image.
Over the past several months, the enemy’s media outlets have aired more than one report aimed at whitewashing its crimes and portraying them exclusively as military strikes. The latest was published on August 26 by Makan, the “Israeli” Public Broadcasting Corporation, concerning a field tour in Bint Jbeil.
The new report includes an interview with Colonel R.Z., a Zionist officer in the Northern Command, who speaks with contrived “compassion” about the Christian villages of southern Lebanon, claiming that the IOF is committed to “empowering the Christian villages in the south by providing assistance to these villages and their residents.” The reference here is specifically to the residents of Rmeish, Debl, Ain Ebel, and Yaroun.
Of course, this is not the first time the enemy has focused on the significance of Christian villages in the “Israeli” military agenda. It has sought to keep them out of its targeting, but not for humanitarian reasons. Rather, its motives are rooted in fomenting sectarian discord.
One Christian political figure says that the IOF will not spare a single village in southern Lebanon, regardless of its sectarian or political affiliation, from its programme of attacks and its expansionist plans for the south. The siege of the Christian villages is therefore inevitable, because the objective of the “yellow strip” is to ensure that no Lebanese person or sect remains there.
Because the enemy’s intentions are exposed and unmistakable, a few humanitarian and food aid deliveries cannot whitewash the image of the killer in the eyes of the people of the land and their fellow citizens. For these communities, the issue is a matter of principle: accepting initiatives laden with ulterior motives from an occupying army that knows nothing but displacement, demolition, killing, destruction, and explosions amounts to becoming partners in its project on the ground.
The residents of the southern villages, regardless of their sects, understand this. For that reason, unifying their position and their stance in the face of the killing machine moving from one village to another has become an urgent necessity—particularly as the IOF has repeatedly targeted symbols of the Christian community in the border villages. These attacks have included:
● March 2026: Occupation forces killed George Saeed and his son in the town of Rmeish.
● March 2026: The enemy killed Father Pierre Al-Raai, parish priest of Al-Qlayaa.
● April 2026: The enemy prevented a convoy carrying 40 tonnes of aid from reaching the town of Debl on the occasion of Easter.
● April 2026: A Zionist soldier destroyed a statue of Jesus Christ [peace be upon him] in the town of Debl.
● April 2026: The enemy destroyed solar panels and water infrastructure using a military bulldozer in the town of Debl.
● May 2026: The IOF demolished a compound belonging to the Basilian Sisters of the Holy Saviour in Yaroun, which included a convent and a school.
● May 2026: A Zionist soldier assaulted a statue of the Virgin Mary [peace be upon her] in the town of Debl.
● August 2026: The enemy continues to impose restrictions on the Christian villages.
On March 23, 2025, the IOF informed residents of Tel Al-Sultan in Rafah, Palestine, through messages, leaflets, and loudspeakers, to leave their homes and head north, specifying an exit route. As they attempted to leave in accordance with those instructions, they came under fire and were martyred on the spot.
Similar incidents also took place at aid distribution centres in Gaza in 2025. The enemy announced designated routes for reaching aid points, then opened fire on Gazans, killing a number of them.
There can be no credence given to the IOF’s attempts to deceive public opinion. In light of the above, the matter leaves no room for appeasement or forgiveness. The enemy shows no mercy to Lebanese or Palestinians, viewing both peoples as prey to be attacked, whether the person before it is a resistance fighter engaged in combat against it or a civilian from southern Lebanon or Gaza.
Against this backdrop, the “Israeli” discourse concerning the Christian villages of southern Lebanon can be understood as an attempt to portray the enemy’s forces on the ground as an entity providing protection and assistance.
Accordingly, the situation cannot be reduced to images of aid distribution, television interviews, or soft-spoken statements about “protecting Christians.” The true test of any “humanitarian” discourse is the conduct of an IOF on the ground: Does it withdraw from the land it has occupied? Does it respect religious symbols in the villages it enters?
Turning the occupation into a donor, the siege into “care,” and military intervention into “empowerment” does not change the reality on the ground. The people of the south, Muslims and Christians alike, know that what unites them is not the aid that comes from the enemy, but the land on which they live, the national identity they share, and their right to see their villages remain inhabited by their own people—far from any project seeking to exploit sectarian divisions as a gateway to dismantling southern society.
Therefore, responding to this discourse does not simply mean rejecting humanitarian assistance. It means exposing the “Israeli” attempt to separate the occupation from the conduct of the occupation, and military force from the “humanitarian” discourse it uses to present itself to the local population.
Anyone who genuinely seeks to empower the Christian villages of the south does not need to occupy their land, control their roads, or impose restrictions on their residents. All it needs to do is leave the land to its people.
/129
Your Comment