BEIRUT (Dispatches) -- For the fifth consecutive night, Israeli occupation forces subjected southern Lebanon to barbaric bombardment on Friday. 
Warplanes carried out airstrikes and artillery attacks targeting the Ali al-Taher heights, the Dabsha hill area, and the Dawhet Kfar Rumman area in the Nabatieh district. Low-flying jets flew extensively over the region as Merkava tanks targeted residential homes in al-Mansouri and Sarbin.
At least 11 people were killed in the latest wave of attacks, including three children and two women from a single family. Local sources reported that Israeli forces used incendiary materials and phosphorus bombs, setting woodlands ablaze and burning over 120 hectares of centuries-old olive groves. 
White phosphorus attacks put civilians at grave risk, causing intensely painful injuries including necrosis, acute lung injuries, severe eye damage, and second- or third-degree burns.
An extensive investigation by the Financial Times and Lighthouse Reports reveals that the Israeli military is following a “scorched earth” policy in southern Lebanon. 
Satellite imagery confirms that most damage occurred after Israeli forces took control of depopulated villages. Israeli war minister Israel Katz openly boasted that the military is implementing the “Rafah and Beit Hanoun model” for southern Lebanon, with all buildings in 24 Lebanese villages destroyed.
In Zawtar al-Shariqya alone, occupation forces demolished the municipal building, a public school, a health clinic, a children’s nursery, and essential water projects. Satellite analysis shows entire municipalities reduced to gray ruins.
The military has destroyed 2,500 kilometers of water infrastructure, all bridges over the Litani River, and over 20% of agricultural land. Historic mosques, libraries, Roman ruins, and Crusader castles have been targeted in a systematic erasure of Lebanese cultural heritage.
The human toll continues to rise. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, 4,346 people have been killed and more than 12,000 injured since the Israeli aggression began on March 2. At least 135 healthcare workers have been killed while performing their duties. Over 1.5 million Lebanese citizens have been displaced.
The international community, particularly Western powers, has remained largely silent. Despite a U.S.-brokered framework agreement signed in June calling for Israel’s withdrawal, the United States has instead pressured Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, allowing occupation forces a free hand to continue their systematic destruction.
Senior Hezbollah official Nawaf Moussawi has asserted that force, not diplomacy, is the only path to liberating south Lebanon. 
“Is there international pressure that would compel the Israelis to withdraw? So far, there is not,” Moussawi stated. “Therefore, we have no choice but to continue fighting the Israeli occupier until it withdraws.”