A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Israel says it is punishing soldiers who destroyed and desecrated two Christian religious statues while invading south Lebanon. In another Lebanese village, satellite images appear to show its military bulldozing a convent, but Israel claims the building is still standing. NPR's Jane Arraf and Jawad Rizkallah have this report.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: In the border village of Yaroun in southern Lebanon, the small convent with its Catholic School was the center of village life for decades.
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ARRAF: Mazen Farah (ph), a former pupil, shares this video of a student musical performance there in the 1980s. He's one of the small boys on stage in a white button-down and navy pants - a musical note pinned to his shirt. Israel destroyed a lot of the mixed Christian-Muslim border village, including a church, during the 2024 war. Last month, during a ceasefire with Lebanon, the Israeli army moved across the border to bulldoze much of the rest - including three mosques, according to village leaders. Israel says it's targeting the infrastructure of Iran-backed Hezbollah. Farah and other displaced residents know about the recent destruction only through commercial satellite images. And in the case of the convent, footage surreptitiously taken from a neighboring town.
ADIB AJAKA: So this was the monastery. And beside it, there's the school, Saint George School.
ARRAF: Village official Adib Ajaka's mother taught French at the school. He points out that subsequent satellite images show just bare ground where the convent and school once stood.
AJAKA: The whole building been demolished by bulldozer and we can see it down there. And now you can see it on satellite images. It doesn't exist anymore.
ARRAF: Vatican Media announced the destruction of the Greek Catholic properties.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In Lebanon last Friday, a convent and former school belonging to the Salvatorian Sisters were destroyed by the Israeli army.
ARRAF: Israel condemned the destruction of a statue of Jesus in another village, and last month sentenced the soldier who did it to 30 days' detention. But it continues to deny it destroyed the convent in Yaroun. It has released images of a different building - a pharmacy run by a lay Catholic order - in an attempt to show the convent still stands. NPR provided images to the Israeli military that indicate the convent was destroyed - and the building Israel had shown was a different one. It responded by repeating its denial with the misidentified photo.
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ARRAF: Last year, villagers celebrated Christmas in the ruins of Saint George Church. Previous Israeli attacks left only two outer walls standing. Now, prevented by Israel from returning, even that site is inaccessible to Yaroun's residents.
Jane Arraf, NPR News, Beirut.
(SOUNDBITE OF AL CISNEROS ET AL.'S "PILLAR OF FIRE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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