Israel Uses White Phosphorus in Southern Lebanon in Apparent Bid to Provoke an Iranian Response

White Phosphorus munitions were dropped on Lebanon on 8 June

Israel has deployed white phosphorus munitions in Yahmar al-Shaqif in southern Lebanon in the last few minutes. This comes as Israel is clearly testing Iran’s willingness to hold to the red line set this morning, that attacks on Lebanon would be retaliated against.

White phosphorus munitions are illegal in warfare because they cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians, and because the suffering they inflict is considered excessive relative to any military necessity.

When deployed in or near populated areas, the weapon scatters burning material across a wide zone, igniting everything it touches. It burns at around 800 degrees Celsius, sticks to skin, and continues burning as long as it is exposed to air. Wounds re-ignite when bandages are removed.

There is no effective field treatment from these awful weapons, victims frequently die from organ failure caused by phosphorus absorption even when the burns themselves are survived. The use of white phosphorus in civilian areas is prohibited under Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, and its deployment in densely populated zones has been characterised by the UN and human rights organisations as a violation of international humanitarian law.

Reports on the ground, as well as photos and videos on social media, showed the unmistakable signatures of the illegal weapons. The reports circulated just before 4pm local time. This is not the first time Yahmar al-Shaqif has been targeted with the illegal munitions, with previous attacks noted in March and May of this year.

For most of the day, Israel held off on strikes in southern Lebanon, while their exchange of fire with Iran was ongoing. Iran announced the cessation of its retaliatory operations and issued an unambiguous ultimatum; any attack on Lebanon would be treated as an attack on Iran, met with an immediate and heavier missile response.

Within minutes of that announcement, Israel resumed strikes across southern Lebanon. No Iranian response came. So Israel escalated further, deploying white phosphorus on a civilian area. Iran has now closed its airspace, the same signal it gave before launching last night.

Iran’s airspace is currently closed to civilian aircraft (FlightRadar24)

Israel has struck Lebanese territory, threatened Dahiyeh, and now deployed illegal weapons on civilian areas. All of this within hours of Iran drawing the clearest line it has drawn since this war began.

We have a word for what Israel is doing. It is provocation, deliberate and sequential, each step calculated to either break Iran's resolve or manufacture the conditions for the next escalation. Iran's airspace is closed. The next move is Netanyahu's.

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