Why Nabatieh? Israel’s Escalating Campaign Targets a Southern Lebanese Hub of History, Economy, and Resistance
BEIRUT – The Israeli military on Tuesday ordered the forced displacement of the entire population of Nabatieh, the largest city in southern Lebanon, as its monthslong campaign against Hezbollah enters a new, more intense phase. The move signals a marked escalation from previous operations that had largely focused on villages and rural areas.
Just a day later, Israeli forces pounded communities on Nabatieh’s outskirts with what Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodor described as “near continuous artillery shelling” — an onslaught that fell on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Local media reported multiple Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday, including a direct hit on a cemetery inside the city limits, as well as repeated strikes on the nearby village of Yohmor al-Shaqif.
Hezbollah, for its part, claimed it struck advancing Israeli troops in the Zawtar al-Sharqiya area of the Nabatieh district with artillery and drones, saying its fighters engaged at “point-blank range.”
Since Israel escalated its war on Lebanon on March 2, expanding its invasion and occupation of southern towns and villages, at least 3,213 people have been killed in Lebanon, including paramedics and civilians, according to local authorities. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire announced by President Donald Trump on April 16 has failed to halt the fighting. Israel has instead entrenched a buffer zone roughly 10 kilometers (six miles) deep, delineated by what it calls the “yellow line.”
To understand why Nabatieh is now in Israel’s crosshairs, it helps to look at the city’s geography, history, and economy.
Geography and the Litani River
Nabatieh sits above the Litani River, about 11 kilometers (seven miles) from the Israeli border. The Litani has long been a red line in international agreements and past ceasefires, with stipulations that Hezbollah forces should withdraw north of the river. By targeting Nabatieh, Israel is effectively pressing on a key geographic threshold.
Political analyst Jad Dilati, a native of Nabatieh, told Al Jazeera that the recent focus on the city is an effort to “transform it into one of the villages or cities included below the yellow line” — in other words, to push the effective border northward by depopulating and destroying the urban center.
A historic symbol of resistance
Nabatieh carries deep symbolic weight. Many residents recall the 1983 Ashura Uprising, when Israeli soldiers drove a military vehicle into a religious procession, only to be confronted by tens of thousands of angry civilians. That confrontation is widely seen as the spark that ignited 18 years of armed resistance, ending with Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
“It is said that this incident was the spark that triggered radicalisation and a belief in armed resistance for the next 18 years,” Dilati said.
Economic and demographic pressures
Nabatieh’s population is overwhelmingly Shia Muslim, and the city functions as the economic engine of the south. Mohamad Bazzi, a DAWN fellow, argued that Israel’s strategy is not solely about targeting Hezbollah fighters but also about crippling the Shia community from which Hezbollah draws its support.
“I would see this targeting of Nabatieh as part of that overall strategy to essentially cripple the Shia community in Lebanon,” Bazzi told Al Jazeera. “One way to do that is by destroying different economic engines and the capacity of that community, and one of the largest economic engines of the south is Nabatieh.”
Dilati echoed that view, describing Nabatieh as the “administrative, economic, and symbolic heart of the south.” He added that the goal appears to be making life so impossible that residents cannot return, thereby pressuring Hezbollah to end the war.
Expanding operations beyond the ‘Yellow Line’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “crush” Hezbollah. On Tuesday, he announced that military operations had expanded beyond the so-called yellow line. “We are at war with Hezbollah, and we will intensify our strikes,” he said in a video posted to Telegram.
The announcement triggered a new exodus from Beirut’s southern suburbs, where many had returned after relative calm during the ceasefire. On Wednesday, Lebanon’s Civil Defence said it rescued 15 people trapped in damaged buildings in Nabatieh.
Israel has repeatedly targeted paramedics, sometimes with double- or triple-tap strikes, and has killed at least 15 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Political backdrop and displacement
The Lebanese government is preparing for direct negotiations with Israel scheduled for June 2 and 3. In an Eid al-Adha address, President Joseph Aoun called for “love, solidarity, and unity ... in light of the difficult circumstances and challenges facing Lebanon.”
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, in a televised speech Sunday, denounced the talks. Meanwhile, more than 1.2 million people across Lebanon are now displaced, including most of Nabatieh’s residents.
Nabatieh has been bombed repeatedly since 1978, through the 1982 occupation, the 1993 and 1996 campaigns, the 2006 war, and the 2024 escalation, which destroyed the city’s historic souk. Even during the nominal ceasefire, Israel struck Nabatieh and its surrounding district.
Dilati said that before the latest evacuation order, many residents had already fled. But some had stayed, either out of indignity after the mass displacement of 2024 or because they could no longer afford alternative housing. “What the evacuation order for the entire city did was force whoever remained… to leave because they saw the intensity of the air strikes in the past few days,” he said. “The city is now effectively empty, and the next goal is to destroy the city.”