Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday alleged that the Israeli military “unlawfully” struck a village in southern Lebanon using shells containing white phosphorus, a controversial incendiary munition.In a report, the rights group said it geolocated and verified seven images that it says show Israeli artillery firing white phosphorus into residential areas of the southern Lebanese village of Yohmor. The strikes occurred hours after the Israeli military warned residents of the village and dozens of other communities in southern Lebanon to evacuate.Human Rights Watch said it could not independently determine whether civilians were still present in the area at the time of the attack or whether anyone was harmed.“The Israeli military’s unlawful use of white phosphorus over residential areas is extremely alarming and will have dire consequences for civilians,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at HRW.
The Israeli military did not release a statement but has said in the past that white phosphorus is used to create smoke screens rather than to directly target civilians.Rights groups including HRW and Amnesty International have previously alleged that Israel used the munition during its last war with Hezbollah, including in parts of southern Lebanon where civilians were still present.
What is white phosphorus and why is it controversial?
White phosphorus is a chemical substance dispersed through artillery shells, bombs and rockets that ignites on contact with oxygen. Once ignited, it burns at extremely high temperatures and can set homes, agricultural land and other civilian structures on fire.Under international humanitarian law, the use of airburst white phosphorus in populated areas is considered unlawfully indiscriminate, as it spreads burning fragments over a wide area and can cause severe injuries to civilians.The weapon can burn through human tissue and continue reigniting when exposed to oxygen, making its effects particularly devastating. Because of these risks, international law requires militaries to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm when using such munitions.
IDF-Hazbollah clashes continue
Hezbollah said on Monday its fighters were engaging Israeli forces that had landed by helicopter in eastern Lebanon from across the Syria border, marking the second such operation since the latest conflict with Israel erupted.Lebanon was drawn into the widening Middle East war last week when the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran.Israel, which has continued targeting Hezbollah despite a 2024 ceasefire, carried out multiple waves of strikes across Lebanon last week and deployed ground troops near border areas.In a statement, Hezbollah said it detected “the infiltration of approximately 15 Israeli enemy helicopters” entering eastern Lebanon from the Syrian side of the border, an area where the group maintains a strong presence. The fighters “engaged the helicopters and the infiltrating force with appropriate weapons,” the group said, adding that clashes were ongoing.Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency earlier reported “fierce clashes” near the outskirts of Nabi Sheet, where Israeli forces had reportedly carried out a helicopter landing. In southern Lebanon, Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli soldiers entering the border towns of Odaisseh and Aitaroun with artillery shells and clashed with troops in Odaisseh.Lebanon’s health minister Rakan Nassereddine said on Sunday that Israeli strikes across Lebanon had killed 394 people over the past week, including 83 children and 42 women. The toll includes four people killed in an Israeli strike on a hotel in central Beirut early Sunday — the first attack on the city centre during the latest war.Israel’s military said it carried out a “precise strike” targeting five commanders from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while they were meeting at the hotel.
