IDF admits damaging Catholic convent in southern Lebanon, denies site demolished
The Israeli military on Saturday acknowledged it caused some damage to a Catholic convent in southern Lebanon while working to destroy Hezbollah infrastructure, but denied it “demolished” the site with bulldozers.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, during operations in the border village of Yaroun, forces caused damage to a structure that “had no external signs indicating it was a religious building.”
“After identifying religious indicators in the complex, the forces acted to prevent further damage,” the military said, publishing photos showing the intact structure.
The IDF said Hezbollah had used the compound to launch rockets “multiple times” during the war, “which is why the forces operated there, with the aim of destroying the organization’s terror infrastructure.”
“The IDF takes care to destroy only terror infrastructure and has no intention of harming religious buildings,” the military added.
Gladys Sabbagh, the superior general of the Basilian Salvatorian Sisters, told the Associated Press that the convent was a small compound housing just two nuns, who left because of the war. It had previously included a school and a clinic.
Sabbagh said they “heard” the convent “was destroyed with bulldozers.”
In its own statement, Israel’s Foreign Ministry........
