Watchdog accuses Israel of random attacks on civilians in Lebanon

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Israeli military of carrying out indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Lebanon during its ongoing conflict with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shiite militia.

The rights group said on Wednesday that there is growing evidence of repeated violations of international humanitarian law and accused the Israeli armed forces of failing to distinguish between civilian and military targets in multiple airstrikes across Lebanon in 2023 and 2024.

“More and more evidence is emerging that Israeli forces repeatedly failed to protect civilians or adequately distinguish civilians from military targets during its strikes across Lebanon in 2023 and 2024,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at HRW.

“Lebanon’s government should provide a path for justice for grieving families, including by giving the International Criminal Court jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes.”

HRW cited two incidents that it described as unlawful and that potentially constitute war crimes.

On September 25, an Israeli strike in north-eastern Lebanon killed 23 members of a Syrian refugee family, including 13 children.

In another incident on November 1, a two-story residential building was bombed, killing 10 civilians - five women, three men, and two children.

The violence has stemmed from escalating cross-border tensions following the Hamas-led assault on Israel on October 7, 2023.

In the days that followed, Hezbollah began launching rockets into northern Israel, triggering near-daily exchanges of fire.

By September 2024, the situation had devolved into open conflict, marked by sustained Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon. According to official figures, the conflict has claimed at least 4,047 lives in Lebanon and 76 in Israel.