BEIRUT: A United Nations special rapporteur told AFP on Friday that deadly Israeli strikes on ostensibly civilian vehicles in Lebanon since last year’s ceasefire could amount to war crimes, despite Israel’s assertion they targeted Hezbollah members.
Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon in spite of the November 2024 truce, which sought to end more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed militant group that culminated in two months of open war.
The Israeli military usually says it targeted Hezbollah operatives or infrastructure with its strikes, dozens of which have killed people traveling on Lebanese roads in cars and on motorbikes, or occasionally using excavators.
“Unless there is compelling evidence that those civilian objects have dual (military) objectives... the strikes are illegal,” said Morris Tidball-Binz, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
“The killings resulting from the attacks violate the right to life and also the principles of precaution and proportionality and, in my opinion, also amount to war crimes,” he told AFP in a written statement.
