Israeli warplanes carried out some of their most intense strikes since last year's ceasefire on Thursday night, pounding civilian and industrial sites across southern Lebanon in what Lebanese officials say is an attempt to cripple reconstruction and make life in the region difficult.
The heaviest bombardment hit a cement and asphalt factory in the town of Ansar, in the southern Nabatiyeh district, flattening one of Lebanon's largest industrial sites.
The overnight raids destroyed concrete mixers, cranes, fuel tanks, and part of the factory's administrative building. Two guards were wounded, and the site's workers say they lost "the work of a lifetime", according to local media reports.
"This is a war on reconstruction, a war on the people of the South," Ali Doumen, an employee who maintains the factory’s machinery, told the local L'Orient–Le Jour news site. "They don't want us to rebuild or return to our land. But we will - and it will be more beautiful than before."
The latest strikes killed one person and wounded seven in different locations, according to Lebanon's health ministry. Six were injured in Ansar alone, while one person was killed in Shmistar in the Beqaa, and another was wounded in Bnaafoul, near Saida.
The Israeli army said it had targeted "Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure", but Lebanese officials have denied the claims, saying the strikes deliberately hit civilian facilities.
President Joseph Aoun condemned what he called "repeated Israeli aggression" and "a systematic policy aimed at destroying productive infrastructure, hindering economic recovery, and undermining national stability under false security pretexts".
In a statement, the South Lebanon Water Authority said one of its fuel depots between Ansar and Sinai was hit, destroying half a million litres of diesel used to power water pumps and generators across the region.
It described the site as a "strategic" facility critical for keeping water supplies running amid Lebanon's electricity crisis.
Early on Friday, the Ansar factory was still smouldering. Burnt-out trucks and twisted steel filled the compound as smoke rose from pools of spilt fuel.
"We're a commercial company; we sell to individuals," said one employee, standing in disbelief. "We have nothing to do with Hezbollah."
Since the ceasefire brokered in November 2024, Israel has carried out near-daily airstrikes across southern Lebanon, often hitting construction yards, fuel depots, and repair workshops.
Israel claims these are used to rebuild Hezbollah's logistics network, while Lebanese officials stress that they are part of civilian recovery efforts.
In early October, two Lebanese engineers, Ahmad Saad and Mustafa Rizk, were killed when an Israeli missile struck their vehicle near Kfar Remmane. The pair had been inspecting damage from earlier raids. Their deaths have come to symbolise an Israeli campaign to punish those trying to restore normal life to the war-damaged south.
"They’re going to hit everything linked to reconstruction," said another factory worker in Ansar. "This is just the beginning. The worst is coming."
Over the past two weeks, Lebanese media have warned that a Gaza ceasefire could shift Israel’s fire toward Lebanon, amid fears of escalating attacks. Since November 2024, over 103 people have been killed by Israeli attacks on Lebanon, according to a UN count released in early October.
Thursday's strikes also recalled last week’s attack in Msayleh, in the Saida district, where Israeli jets destroyed a storage yard containing dozens of construction vehicles.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam responded by ordering the Higher Relief Committee to assess damages and provide compensation, but residents say little has changed on the ground.
Local activists and reconstruction workers say the message from Israel is clear. "They want to make the South uninhabitable," said Tarek Mazraani, a campaigner who has received threats from Israeli drones for documenting reconstruction work.
"They’re not targeting weapons, they're targeting livelihoods."
A senior official at the Ansar cement factory estimated the damage at around $30 million, calling it "a devastating blow not just for us, but for the entire community that depends on this place".
For residents, the attacks have revived the sense of siege that defined the 2023–2024 war. Yet amid the destruction, few expressed defeat. "Nothing will bring the South to its knees," Doumen told the French-language outlet. "They can destroy our machines, but not our will to rebuild."