Israel Is Destroying the Machinery South Lebanon Needs to Rebuild

In the municipality of Yater, Doctors Without Borders installed less ideal plastic tanks, because the main water tank was deemed irreparable. In Froun, the organization took a different approach, repairing the filtration unit and connecting it directly to the water source, bypassing the damaged tank. This is just a small sample of the needed repairs. The group noted in its September 2026 statement that it had documented damage to wells, pumps, generators, filtration units, and pipelines across southern Lebanon.

The attacks on heavy machinery and water resources collide in multiple ways, including the fact that construction vehicles are sometimes necessary to even reach broken pumps. In a 2026 account of repairs, UNIFIL described surveying a 280-meter access route for a maintenance crane. Most of the route was damaged and blocked by berms—mounds of compacted dirt sometimes used as barriers in military conflicts. Peacekeepers had to clear these before they could bring in equipment to repair the well.

Some are relying on trucked-in water, like the 90 families who returned to Zawtar Al-Gharbiyeh, which once had 500 households. This, however, isn’t a long-term solution but an expensive and limited substitute. “It’s not a system,” Silvin said. “It’s a drop.”

The threat of another attack also shapes what gets repaired. “Anyone that would be investing in repairing the infrastructure would be doing so with the fear that the intervention is damaged again in a very short while,” Silvin added.

For her team, that means often opting for temporary fixes rather than the lasting infrastructure residents need. An October UN report also described municipalities struggling to pay staff, fuel pumps, and maintain vehicles, and some local water authorities and civil servants told Silvin that Israeli forces had intimidated them when they tried to reach damaged sites near the Yellow Line.