By Zeena Saifi, Allegra Goodwin, Rayhana Zaiter, Farida Elsebai, CNN
(CNN) — When Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2, two days after Israel and the United States launched a war on Iran, the resulting Israeli operation to destroy the group quickly became a mission to flatten swathes of southern Lebanon.
As Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes across the country, soldiers seized more territory in the south. Ground operations began to take on the appearance of those seen in Gaza: bulldozers tearing down buildings and demolitions razing whole villages to the ground.
Even after last week’s ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, those ground operations have continued.
A CNN review of satellite imagery reveals the scale of the destruction.
Hundreds of buildings – most of which appear to be homes – have been either completely flattened or rendered uninhabitable.
Satellite imagery and videos from after the April 16 ceasefire announcement show demolitions continuing apace, with excavators and armored vehicles clearly visible.
Rights groups have sounded the alarm, warning that Israel’s military offensive is mirroring tactics used in Gaza – from heavy strikes on critical infrastructure and healthcare facilities, to the targeting of journalists and psychological warfare.
Israeli officials have outlined plans for a long-term “security zone” inside the border – though the preferred terminology now is a “forward defense line area” – with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying his forces will expand their positions 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep inside Lebanon.
Following the ‘Rafah model’
Senior Israeli government figures have been clear about what that means.
Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to destroy all homes in villages near the border, in line with what he called “the Rafah and Beit Hanoun model.”
Rafah and Beit Hanoun are cities at, respectively, the southern and northern ends of Gaza, which have been laid to waste by Israeli forces over the last two and a half years.
After the ceasefire was announced last week, Katz doubled down, saying the “destruction of houses in the Lebanese contact-line villages” will continue, describing them as “terrorist outposts.”
The Israeli military says it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure across the country in response to the launch of thousands of rockets, drones and anti-tank missiles towards Israel since 2023.
It says Hezbollah embeds and stores weapons in civilian homes, releasing images of arms and ammunition it says its soldiers have uncovered during searches, as well as what it said was an underground command center hidden under a clothes shop.
Senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officials say Israel will impose what it calls a “yellow line” in Lebanon, barring residents from returning to areas occupied by the Israeli military.
It is a tactic lifted straight from Israel’s renewed occupation of Gaza’s territory.
There, it started out as a temporary yellow line on a map – demarcating an area occupied by the Israeli military following the Trump-brokered ceasefire last October.
But after a few weeks, concrete blocks painted yellow started appearing on the ground, lending it a sense of permanence, which has only deepened. Crossing the line remains forbidden to residents, hundreds of whom have been sh