Lebanon’s official National News Agency said on Sunday that Israeli forces were bombarding the southern border town of Naqoura with heavy artillery, including shells it said contained white phosphorus, as fighting broke out inside the town between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters.
The agency said the shelling had caused fires in the coastal town, which lies on the border with Israel and hosts the headquarters of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL. It did not immediately report casualty figures.
The claims could not immediately be independently verified. There was no immediate public comment from the Israeli military, and UNIFIL had not issued an initial statement on the reported shelling or clashes.
If confirmed, the episode would mark a significant escalation in and around Naqoura, one of the most symbolically important points on Lebanon’s southern frontier. The town has long been central to UN peacekeeping operations and was heavily damaged during Israel’s 2024 ground offensive in southern Lebanon. Local officials later said much of the town had been destroyed.
NNA said the bombardment coincided with fighting on the ground inside Naqoura itself, suggesting a renewed Israeli incursion into a town from which Israeli forces had previously withdrawn under the ceasefire agreed in late November 2024. That truce, backed by international diplomacy and tied to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, was intended to restore Lebanese army and UNIFIL control in the south, but violations and flare-ups have continued.
Naqoura has remained a particularly sensitive location throughout the conflict. As well as sitting on the coastal road near the Blue Line that separates Lebanon and Israel, it has repeatedly been drawn into fighting since cross-border hostilities intensified after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023. During the 2024 war, UN peacekeepers accused Israeli forces of striking positions in and around Naqoura, and the town became a front-line area during Israeli ground operations against Hezbollah.
The allegation of white phosphorus use is likely to draw immediate scrutiny from diplomats, rights groups and legal observers. White phosphorus is not banned outright under international law and can be used lawfully for smoke screens, signalling and illumination. However, its use in or near populated areas is highly controversial because it can cause severe burns, ignite fires and inflict serious respiratory injuries, and because rights organisations say air-burst use over civilian areas may amount to an indiscriminate attack.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the UK-based monitor Action on Armed Violence have previously documented what they describe as repeated Israeli use of white phosphorus in southern Lebanon since late 2023. Those organisations have argued that its use over populated areas raises serious questions under international humanitarian law and may in some cases amount to a war crime.
Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using white phosphorus shells over a residential neighbourhood in Yohmor, another town in southern Lebanon, on 3 March. Israel said at the time that it was unaware of such use and has maintained in previous responses that any use of such munitions would be in line with international law.
Naqoura and the surrounding border area have also featured in other recent Lebanese complaints against Israel. In February, Lebanese officials accused Israel of spraying concentrated glyphosate near Ras Naqoura and Aita al-Shaab, describing it as an environmental and health violation intended to damage farmland and vegetation. UNIFIL said that spraying was unacceptable and contrary to Resolution 1701.
The latest report comes against a backdrop of renewed instability in southern Lebanon despite the 2024 ceasefire. International monitors and rights groups have said Israeli strikes and security operations have continued in the south, while Hezbollah has remained active along the border. The UN human rights office said last month that at least 130 civilians had been killed in Lebanon since the ceasefire came into force.
The wider toll from the 2023-24 war was far higher. According to research published by the House of Commons Library, at least 3,961 people were killed and 16,520 injured in Lebanon between 8 October 2023 and 26 November 2024, with around 1.2 million people displaced during that period.
Any confirmed use of white phosphorus in Naqoura would also add to political pressure on Western governments that continue to licence military exports to Israel. In Britain, ministers have faced sustained criticism over arms exports since the government suspended around 30 export licences in September 2024, citing what it called a clear risk that some equipment might be used in serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza. Campaigners and some MPs have since questioned whether remaining licences and carve-outs could still allow UK-linked components to be used in Israeli operations elsewhere, including Lebanon.
For now, the reported shelling of Naqoura remains a fast-moving, single-source claim from Lebanon’s state news agency. No immediate confirmation had been issued by the Israeli military, Hezbollah, the Lebanese army or UNIFIL, and no verified images from the town were immediately available. But with the UN peacekeeping mission headquartered there and the legal sensitivity surrounding alleged white phosphorus use, any corroboration is likely to draw swift international attention.