Israeli Strikes Leave Southern Lebanon Towns Without Water and Electricity
(AWP) - Israeli bombardment of the Bab Tnieh power station in Sahl al-Khiam, also known as the Marjeyoun power station, has left several towns in southern Lebanon without water and electricity.
The damaging strikes affected the area’s main supply of water at the Wazzani station, adding further burdens to the residents of towns that have been severely affected by the ongoing Israeli bombings since October 2023.
Sylvana Samaan, a resident of Marjeyoun, says that she had been receiving electricity for no more than seven hours a day through privately installed electric generators since the public Lebanon Electricity Company’s services were cut off.
“After what happened in Marjeyoun, and the bombing that targeted the Lebanon Electricity Company, we began to buy more water. We used to buy it once a week. Now we take it three times a week, and the electricity has been cut off, even alternative electricity through generators. We were receiving electricity until a.m., but the crisis became much greater,” she added.
Mahmoud Shaghouri, another resident of Marjeyoun, witnessed the Israeli bombing of the power station.
“Two missiles hit there and did not explode, then they started bombing around the [power] station but did not hit it, behind the station,” he said.
According to Wassim Daher, General Director of the South Lebanon Establishment, Israel is intentionally cutting off water-generating resources to put the southern Lebanese residents under pressure.
“It is not the first targeting of electricity in the region. They targeted it in the town of Taybeh, which is close to Marjeyoun. The goal of cutting off electricity is to cut off water, which has become clear. The entire area was affected. Between Wazzani, Taybeh, Khiam, and Marj al-Khoukh, which supplies all of Marjeyoun, the water was cut off there,” Daher told AWP.
Daher explained that towns in the area were usually provided with electricity for 16 hours a day, during which they were uninterruptedly supplied with water, adding that alternative generators cannot meet this capacity given the frequency and diversity of Israeli attacks.
“We are running the generators, but they will not cover the need, and people will go through inevitable suffering, but we hope that the electricity company will be able to take the initiative and fix it [the damages] quickly,” he continued.
On Sunday, the Lebanon Electricity Company said in a statement that the Israeli army targeted the Marjeyoun power station with artillery shells on Saturday, “which led to severe damage to transformers, cells, and high-voltage networks, causing them to be out of service”.
It added that it is assessing the station's technical status to take appropriate measures.