A Catholic charity has condemned Israel after its forces destroyed a convent in southern Lebanon, in what it said is a deliberate attack on a place of worship.
The French organisation L'Oeuvre d'Orient said Israeli troops demolished a convent belonging to the Salvatorian Sisters, a Greek Catholic religious order, in the village of Yaroun.
“L'Oeuvre d'Orient strongly condemns this deliberate act of destruction against a place of worship, as well as the systematic demolition of homes in southern Lebanon aimed at preventing the return of civilian populations,” the group said in a statement on Friday.
The charity said the attack forms part of a wider pattern of attacks on Christian heritage, noting that “Christian sanctuaries were also destroyed during the war in 2024, such as the Melkite churches in the villages of Yaroun and Derdghaya, both classified as part of Lebanon's heritage”.
Images circulating in April showed an Israeli soldier using a jackhammer to desecrate a statue of Jesus on a cross in southern Lebanon, fuelling anger among Christian communities around the world.
