In early October 2024, Israeli airstrikes pounded major water infrastructures in the Arqoub and Hasbaya areas of Lebanon, causing severe disruptions in the supply of clean water. The strikes are part of a broader military campaign that Israel has waged against Hezbollah and has sharply increased violence. These attacks on the water networks left thousands in southern Lebanon without access to essential water supplies, adding to an already growing humanitarian crisis.
Most of these attacks' victims are Lebanese civilians who lived in the countryside in Arqoub and Hasbaya, where water means all the difference between survival and death. Such an assault on water infrastructure is seen as part of a broader strategy by the Israeli forces meant to weaken Hezbollah, the commanding militia with heavy presence in southern Lebanon. Arqoub and Hasbaya are strategic areas not only for being near the Israel border but also for having Hezbollah located in that area. Although the main conflict involves the State of Israel and the forces of Hezbollah, civilians are the ones who are mainly suffering these military undertakings, with some critical infrastructures being blown up and thus directly affecting their access to basic needs such as water.
The targeting of water resources has become a growing trend in modern-day conflicts. Water is life, agriculture, and industry, and to be in its control means having enormous power against populations, particularly in those regions where it is already scarce. In conflict zones, the destruction or control of water infrastructure can be used as a tactical tool for subjugation, weakening a community, or displacement. This tactic-commonly referred to as "weaponizing water"-has become an apparently successful strategy toward forcing military and civilian forces alike to acquiesce through the denial of a life-sustaining resource.
The so-called blue gold concept perhaps better illustrates the place of water within global geopolitics, particularly in sub-regions such as the Middle East, which naturally induce frequent shortages. As climate change worsens, droughts diminish water availability, and disputes over it keep sharpening.
Humanitarian organizations and local authorities have in turn joined in condemning the attacks, asking for international intervention to help restore access to water to the affected communities. Repair of the damaged infrastructure has been slow, considering that violence is ongoing, while international groups ask that civilian resources be protected under international law. Water being weaponized in conflicts is an incident of a growing global trend; as elsewhere in Syria and Africa, the international community has continued to push for stricter regulations in order to protect access to water in war zones.
To learn more, please visit:
- LBC, Israel targets water network in Arqoub and Hasbaya in South Lebanon
- BBC, Gaza's water system, destroyed by war, is sickening its children
- The Guardian, As water becomes a weapon of war, we must focus on cooperation and peace
