Israeli forces abduct elderly woman from southern Lebanese town
The Israeli army abducted a Lebanese woman in her late 70s from Dhayra, south Lebanon, two weeks ago, before releasing her roughly a week later.
Ghadia al-Suwaid was taken from her home after Israeli forces entered the town, Dhayra's mayor told Middle East Eye. Her disapearance came to light in the Lebanese media this week.
Suwaid was one of the only people who refused to leave her border town despite relentless Israeli bombing and a ground invasion.
When her neighbourhood was badly damaged by an Israeli strike in April, Suwaid insisted on staying there while receiving aid from Lebanese civil defence search-and-rescue teams.
The Israeli army also detonated much of Dhayra last month, levelling many of its houses in a destructive process Israel is carrying out in several Lebanese towns and villages.
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Abdallah Salem al-Ghorayeb, mayor of Dhayra, told MEE that Suwaid is now staying alone in the destroyed town.
Suwaid's temporary disappearance is one of the latest in a string of Israeli abductions.
On 15 October, Israeli forces abducted a 60-year-old nun from the town of Qaouzah. She was released two days later through UN mediation.
An Israeli naval force also snatched a Lebanese captain of civilian and commercial ships from the northern coastal town of Batroun on Friday, alleging that he is a Hezbollah member.
Meanwhile Israel said it had seized a man in Syria who it claimed was an Iranian operative monitoring Israeli troops.
'Symbol of steadfastness'
Suwaid was lauded as a “symbol of steadfastness” by a journalist visiting her after the strike on her neighbourhood in April.
This was not the first time she has been arrested by Israel. Ghorayeb says she was previously imprisoned for three years during Israel's 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon, which ended in 2000.
She was reportedly wounded when Israeli forces abducted her this time.
Dhayra was one of the first places to be hit by Israeli strikes when clashes with Hezbollah started on 8 October 2023.
The Israeli army even used white phosphorous on the town to force residents to leave, which Amnesty International said must be investigated as a war crime.
While the clashes have been ongoing for over a year, the situation escalated into a full-blown conflict in September, when Israel exploded pagers used by Hezbollah members before launching a widespread bombing campaign followed by a ground invasion.
More than 3,000 people have been killed in the war on Lebanon over the past year, most of them since September, according to the country’s health ministry.
Over a million people have been displaced, and the Lebanese state-run National News Agency says that at least 37 border villages have been completely destroyed along with 40,000 housing units.
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