More than five weeks into the US-Israeli war on Iran, aid agencies have warned that attacks on Lebanon have been taken straight from the Gaza playbook and may amount to war crimes.

The humanitarian situation in Lebanon is rapidly deteriorating, with nearly 1,500 people killed, including 130 children, since the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah dragged the country into the regional war on 2 March. Over one million people have been displaced, according to aid organisations.

As well as an intense bombing campaign, the Israeli army has invaded the country, with plans to occupy swathes of the south in order to create a “buffer zone” along its northern border.

It has said that it must do this in order to push back Hezbollah, which has fired almost 5,000 rockets, missiles and drones at Israel since the outbreak of the conflict.

“I have now instructed to further expand the existing security zone in order to finally thwart the threat of invasion and to push the anti-tank missile fire away from our border,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video on 29 March after a visit to the Israeli military’s northern command confirming Israel would expand its “buffer zone” to encroach further into Lebanon.

It is a repeat of history: Israel occupied southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000 during the country’s civil war.

The Israeli military previously told The Independent about the operation, which has been dubbed Roaring Lion: “Regarding the ‘buffer zone’, the deployment of IDF troops along the southern border of Lebanon was made in order to provide an additional layer of defense for the residents of northern Israel, to continue preventing any emerging threats, and to protect against any attempts to infiltrate into the territory of the State of Israel.”

It emphasises that Israel “operates against the Hezbollah terrorist organization, and not against the Lebanese Armed Forces or Lebanese civilians.”

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