Israeli airstrikes on Lebanese University facilities in Hadath killed two prominent academics on Wednesday, marking the second time university professors have been targeted in the renewed conflict and raising sharp questions about the criteria for military strikes.
Dr. Hussein Bazzi, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and a nanoscience specialist, was killed alongside his colleague Dr. Murtada Sorour, described by students and colleagues as "one of the best physicians in Lebanon." The strikes targeted the Faculty of Sciences building on the Lebanese University's Hadath campus in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Israeli social media accounts quickly circulated a photograph showing Dr. Bazzi standing next to Ibrahim Aqil, a senior Hezbollah military commander killed in September, suggesting the professor had ties to the militant group. The posts claimed his nanoscience expertise was being used to develop advanced materials for Hezbollah's rocket systems.
Lebanese University officials and academic colleagues vehemently rejected the allegations. "Dr. Bazzi was a respected scientist whose research was published in international journals," a university spokesperson stated. "Nanoscience is a legitimate field of study with applications from medicine to electronics. This is an attack on Lebanon's educational institutions."
The pattern is troubling. This marks the second incident in recent weeks where Lebanese University faculty have been killed in strikes. The repeated targeting of academic institutions raises fundamental questions about how Israel defines legitimate military targets and the standards of evidence required before strikes on civilian facilities.
Under international humanitarian law, civilian objects—including universities—are protected unless they are being used for military purposes. The burden of proof lies with the attacking party to demonstrate that such facilities have lost their protected status.
