Israeli attacks on Lebanon: Bombing and target types, and number of civilian martyrs

This map is updated through daily monitoring of information and collection of data related to the attacks from the National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) platform and local media outlets, through its social media sites and television news broadcasts, as well as through information published by field correspondents or others. Each piece of information is verified from multiple sources to verify its accuracy.

The attacks are classified according to the types of bombing used by the israelis (artillery shells, air strikes, flares or phosphorous bombs). The targeted groups are also shown (civilians, army, homes, schools, forests, etc.), in addition to the number of civilian martyrs. We chose not to specify the frequency of attacks according to the number of raids or shells in each area to avoid misunderstandings due to the lack of clarity of the numbers and their differences between one source and another. Therefore, the frequency of attacks that appear in the form of circles represents the number of days in which each area was targeted.

This map can be read on several levels:

  • Through time: To read the types of bombing and everything related to the type of targets and martyrs on a certain day or throughout a timeframe, use the calendar option to specify the dates. The reseted map shows the entire period of the aggression.
  • Through geography: To read the types of bombing, the type of targets and the number of martyrs in a specific location, select the area by clicking on the map. Use the calendar to specify timeframes.
  • Through the type of bombing: It is possible to click on one of the four types - artillery shells, air strikes, flares or phosphorous bombs - to read its frequency chronologically and geographically.
  • Through the type of target: It is possible to click on one of the eleven targets - house/building, school/mosque/hospital, car/bike, agriculture/grazing/poultry, forests/woodlands, civil defense/ambulance, press, peacekeeping forces, Lebanese army, vital projects/infrastructure, or cemeteries - to read its frequency chronologically and geographically.

How to use the map

  • Click on ‘RESET FILTERS’ to start each new data reading.
  • Circles (types of bombing) can be hidden for an overall reading of the bombing frequency in the areas.
  • For specific readings, through time and type of targets use the calendar and click on the icons in the map legend.
  • More than one icon, in the map legend, can be selected to specify types of targets and bombings.

17 April 2024

Since the beginning of the war, Public Works Studio has been documenting Israeli attacks on Lebanese territories and its residents on a daily basis. Until the end of November 2023, these attacks were generally limited to the border strip, then expanded in the following months to include the rest of the villages in the southern governorates of Nabatieh and South. After that, specifically in February 2024, Israel began conducting air raids deep into Lebanese territory, targeting more than one area in the Bekaa Governorate and the vicinity of Baalbek District.

Until March 31, 2024, approximately six months after the start of the war, we documented various types of attacks, noting that Israel has been and still is mainly using artillery shells in most of its attacks, especially in border areas. For example, Naqoura alone was shelled with artillery shells for 93 days, followed by Khiam for 79 days and Aita El Chaab for 75 days.

Following that, among the most prominent types of shelling were aerial bombardments, with the highest frequency of aerial and drone shelling occurring in Aita El Chaab, which was targeted for 77 days. The largest share of phosphorus shelling occurred for more than 10 days each in Kfar Kila, Mayss al-Jabal, and Khiam, while other areas were subjected to phosphorus shelling but at a lower frequency.

These attacks targeted a total of 138 residential areas across Lebanon. Forests and woodlands, including agricultural land, are the most frequently targeted by shelling, resulting in the killing of livestock and poultry, followed by homes and residential neighborhoods that the enemy intensified targeting from December 2023 onwards. Not spared from the attacks were medical responders, civil defense teams, journalists, the army, and even peacekeeping forces, resulting in the death of 71 civilians and more than 300 fighters and the injury of nearly a thousand individuals.

7 February 2024

More than 117 days have passed since the outbreak of the war on the southern front in Lebanon, causing extensive destruction in 100 towns and the killing of over 200 martyrs, including 25 civilians, among whom were children, journalists, paramedics, and a member of the Lebanese army.

What stands out this month is the direct assault by Israeli forces on a Civil Defense center, resulting in the martyrdom of two individuals and injuries to several others who were at the center. In addition, Israel’s violation of “rules of engagement” is evident through the targeting of several towns in Lebanese territory, including 18 towns north of the Litani River subjected to Israeli shelling.

The Israeli enemy also carried out a targeted assassination operation, targeting a building and a car in the southern suburbs of Beirut for the first time since the 2006 war. In addition, they threw two illuminating bombs in Tripoli, in an evident escalation witnessed during this period.

The massive agricultural losses and the targeting of people’s homes and cars, along with the destruction of water, electricity, and communication infrastructure, have paralyzed economic, educational, and social life in the southern border area. The region witnessed the displacement of more than 82 thousand people, most of whom lost their sources of livelihood, in addition to the closure of more than 50 schools, threatening the academic future of around 3848 students and 674 teachers, while only a thousand students have actually been accommodated by providing alternatives for them.

These damages are increasing daily, as documented by this map, with the continuation and escalation of the war. While the people of the south lack sufficient official support and local and international media coverage, and as they try to survive and maintain some form of normal life, the Lebanese state throws them into the net of an emergency plan with no funding, designed for different circumstances and a different time and another war.

21 December 2023

With the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, Israel has expanded the scope of its attacks on southern Lebanon. Until December 15, 2023, approximately 70 days into the war, the Israeli enemy persistently and violently targeted southern Lebanese villages on a daily basis. Even during the ceasefire period, which spanned from November 25 to November 30, some attacks on Lebanese sovereignty did not stop.

The number of targeted towns exceeded 74, with Israel intentionally using prohibited white phosphorus in 23 of them. In the second month of the war, the occupation intensified its targeting of civilians and their homes, continuing the genocide, urbicide, and domicide practiced in Gaza.

According to the High Relief Committee, the occupation destroyed 60 houses completely and 2,000 houses partially by the beginning of November. It is likely that these numbers have increased to date. The number of civilian martyrs targeted by the enemy reached 17 civilians including 3 journalists, in addition to a member of the Lebanese army and more than 108 fighters.

Public Works Studio employs data-based research and maps as a tool to document Israeli attacks, visually presenting them for analysis. This helps in uncovering the overall impact of such aggression on both our constructed and natural surroundings, as well as on our daily lives as inhabitants.

15 November 2023

During 40 days since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, Lebanon has not been spared from Israeli attacks, whether through artillery shelling or airstrikes. This is not new to an enemy which had occupied our south for decades, had seized our capital in the 1980s, and still occupies parts of our land to this day.

As of November 12, 2023, the Israeli army has targeted more than 60 towns in Southern Lebanon, killing 10 civilians, including 3 girls, either directly or through the destruction of their cars and homes. It also resulted in the burning of over 462 hectares of forest and agricultural land, as well as more than 40,000 olive trees. In addition, the aggression continues to prevent residents from accessing their lands, crops, and trees, while suffocating them using internationally prohibited white phosphorus. The latter being a substance which Israel previously used in Lebanon in 2006, 1996, 1993, and 1982, contributing to deliberate ecocide, aimed at disrupting the balance of nature and eliminating local environmental, cultural, and agricultural means of livelihood. The Israeli bombardment also targeted the Lebanese army, civil defense teams, firefighting and ambulance services, journalists, UNIFIL, as well as a school, a hospital yard, a solar energy project, and several homes.

This map aims to track and document these attacks to understand their cumulative impact on our built and natural environment, and on our lives as residents.

This map takes us back to what was known as the occupied Lebanese strip before its liberation in 2000, the borders of which aligns with the current boundaries of the ongoing attacks. This overlaying of borders and attacks raises questions about the rights of border strip residents in their diverse places of residence, be it their current villages, locations of displacement, or areas of migration. It also addresses the residents’ educational, health, and agricultural conditions, as well as the water and electricity services in the strip.

Southern Lebanon stands as the sole battleground for Lebanon’s confrontation with the Israeli occupation, placing it under the microscope of social-political value, as well as the long-standing state’s relationship with its inhabitants.

 

From Dossier Investigation

Map of Israeli Attacks on Lebanon 2023

For over 300 days, the war on Lebanon’s southern fronts has ravaged 184 towns, claiming more than 466 lives, including about 108 civilians of which children, refugees, journalists, and aid workers.  As a …