Zamir warns Israeli troops against looting and vandalism in Lebanon

Israel's military chief of staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir issued a sharp warning to troops about looting on Monday, and said using social media to spread "questionable" messages was crossing "a red line".

"The phenomenon of looting, if it exists, is disgraceful and risks tarnishing the IDF as a whole. If such incidents occurred, we will investigate them," he said in a statement, using the acronym for the Israeli army.

His remarks came after Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that troops in south Lebanon had been looting significant amounts of civilian property, citing testimonies from troops and commanders in the field.

Footage has also emerged on social media of Israeli soldiers filming each other joking around as they damaged property inside people's homes in what appeared to be south Lebanon.

Another image on social media showed a soldier using a sledgehammer to smash a figure of Jesus that had fallen off a cross in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military last week said two soldiers would receive 30 days of military detention and be removed from combat duty over the incident.

"IDF conscripts and reservists must not use social networks as a tool for spreading controversial messages and for self-promotion. This is a red line that must not be crossed," Zamir warned.

"Those who cross it will face disciplinary action," he said, adding: "Normalization of such behavior can be just as dangerous as operational threats."

In a separate statement to AFP, the military said it viewed "any harm to civilian property, as well as acts of looting, with the utmost severity and strictly prohibits such conduct".

It said allegations of such behavior were "thoroughly examined" and where proof was established, "disciplinary and criminal measures" would be taken, "including prosecution".

Military police officers also conducted "inspections at northern border crossings upon troops' exit from operational activity", it said, without indicating whether any evidence of looting had emerged.

Israeli rights group Breaking the Silence said it was not collecting testimonies from troops in Lebanon, but said looting and other such behaviors had "become really common" since Israel began a ground invasion during the Gaza war that began in 2023.