Israel destroys another key bridge along Lebanon’s Litani River

Israel’s openly colonialist assault on Lebanon continues, with the Israeli army destroying another key bridge. The systematic attacks on vital infrastructure have fuelled fears of a full-scale annexation by Israel. The latest strike targeted the Qasmiyeh bridge, along the Litani river, 14km north of Lebanon’s UNESCO world heritage city of Tyre.

Israel has been hitting bridges along the river in an attempt to cordon off the south of Lebanon. And one far-right Israeli politician has even declared the new Israeli border with Lebanon is now the Litani river—around 30km north of the current frontier!

Middle East Eye (MEE) reported:

The Israeli army appeared to destroy the Qasmiyeh Bridge near the city of Tyre, hours after the country’s defence minister, Israel Katz, ordered all crossings over the Litani River and several homes close to the Israeli border to be destroyed.

Israel’s attack has caused mass displacement, drawn wide condemnation for brazen attacks on civilian infrastructure and their means to life.

Suspicious schemes

In theory, Hezbollah breached a US-brokered ‘ceasefire’ with Israel in early March which had held up since their last war in 2024. In practice, the US gave Israel carte blanche to strike Lebanon, which it has done constantly since the deal was struck. During the intervening period, Israel attacked southern Lebanon about 15,400 times.

You can read about the secretive Israel-US ‘side letter’ pact here, as well as our extensive coverage of Israel’s ceasefire breaches and ongoing invasion here.

Israel’s current assault has displaced one in five Lebanese people and repeatedly struck densely populated areas. According to Anadolu Agency:

at least 1,029 people have been killed and 2,786 injured in Israeli attacks since March 2 [2026].

Lebanese prime minister Joseph Aoun described the latest bridge attack as:

an attempt to sever the geographical connection between the southern Litani region and the rest of Lebanese territory.

Adding that it falls:

within suspicious schemes to establish a buffer zone along the Israeli border, solidify the reality of the occupation and seek Israeli expansion within Lebanese territory.

‘Litani is the new Israeli border’

Data journalist Ben van der Merwe has documented seven bridges over the Litani river hit by Israel. This amounts to a systematic effort to cut off southern Lebanon from the rest of the country.

Israel’s direct attacks on vital civilian infrastructure recall its so-called Dahiyeh Doctrine. The Canary analysed the origins of this genocidal scorched earth approach here. Peace Studies professor Paul Rogers describes the method as:

the deliberate application of “disproportionate force”, such as the destruction of an entire village, if deemed to be the source of rocket fire.

Rogers added:

One graphic description of the result was that “around a thousand Lebanese civilians were killed, a third of them children. Towns and villages were reduced to rubble; bridges, sewage treatment plants, port facilities and electric power plants were crippled or destroyed.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned Israel’s assault on 23 March, saying:

Forcible displacement, wanton destruction and attacks deliberately targeting civilians are war crimes.

They added that:

Countries that continue to provide Israel with arms and military aid risk complicity in the Israeli government’s serious violations in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich made it very clear that the Israeli invasion has colonialist, expansionist aims.

Reuters reported on 23 March:

Smotrich told an Israeli radio program that the military campaign in Lebanon “needs to end with a different reality entirely, both with the Hezbollah ​decision but also with the change of Israel’s borders.”

Smotrich added:

I say here definitively…in every room and in every discussion, too: the new Israeli border must be the Litani.

Featured image via the Canary