BEIRUT (AP) — Perched on a hilltop a short walk from the Israeli border, the tiny southern Lebanese village of Ramyah has almost been wiped off the map. In a neighboring village, satellite photos show a similar scene: a hill once covered with houses, now reduced to a gray smear of rubble. Israeli warplanes and ground forces have blasted a trail of destruction through southern Lebanon the past month.
The aim, Israel says, is to debilitate the Hezbollah militant group , push it away from the border and end more than a year of Hezbollah fire into northern Israel. Even United Nations peacekeepers and Lebanese troops in the south have come under fire from Israeli forces, raising questions over whether they can remain in place. More than 1 million people have fled bombardment , emptying much of the south.
Some experts say Israel may be aiming to create a depopulated buffer zone, a strategy it has already deployed along its border with Gaza . Some conditions for such a zone appear already in place, according to an Associated Press analysis of satellite imagery and data collected by mapping experts that show the breadth of destruction across 11 villages next to the border. The Israeli military has said the bombardment is necessary to destroy Hezbollah tunnels and other infrastructure it says the group embedded within towns.
The blasts have also destroyed homes, neighborhoods and sometimes entire villages , where families have lived for generations. Israel says it aims to push Hezbo.
