The Israeli army admitted on Saturday that its troops damaged one of the buildings belonging to the Greek Catholic Church in the village of Yarun in southern Lebanon. This is the monastery of the Sisters of the Most Holy Savior and the school they managed. It was reported by the AFP agency.
- The Israeli army damaged a monastery and a school in Járun.
- The incident was strongly condemned by the Superior General of the order.
- Israel claims that the object was not clearly marked as a church.
- The army justified the intervention by suspecting attacks from that location.
The superior general of the order, Gladys Sabbagh, strongly condemned this action of the Israeli army. The French Catholic charity L’Œuvre d’Orient, which cooperates with this women’s religious order, described the incident as a deliberate act of destruction of a church building and also criticized the systematic demolition of houses in southern Lebanon in order to prevent the return of the civilian population.
In its statement, the Israeli army admitted that its troops damaged one of the structures within the complex of church buildings during the removal of “terrorist infrastructure” in the village of Járun. At the same time, the spokesman of the army, Avichaj Adrai, stated that “there were no visible signs at the site that it was a church object.”
They denied the charges
“When clear identifying marks were spotted on another building in the complex, troops took action to prevent further damage to the compound,” Adrai added. He justified the presence of Israeli soldiers in the Adrai area by the fact that, according to him, Hezbollah rockets were repeatedly fired from the complex towards Israeli territory, despite the ongoing ceasefire. At the same time, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied that the object – which it described as a “monastery” – had been destroyed. The X network said the location was “intact and safe,” posting a photo of the two-story home.
The incident in Yaroun took place days after the Israeli army took two soldiers into custody for 30 days for damaging a statue of Jesus in the predominantly Christian town of Dibl in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel. A photo of a soldier hitting the head of a statue that was pulled from a roadside cross with a hammer was circulated on social networks.
Israel continues to attack Lebanon despite the April 17 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than six weeks of fighting with Hezbollah. Indeed, the text of the agreement gives Israel the right to act against “planned, imminent or ongoing attacks”. Israeli soldiers operate on the so-called the yellow line, which extends approximately ten kilometers into Lebanese territory, where they carry out large-scale demolitions of buildings and explosions of objects.
