Israeli troops get prison for desecration of Virgin Mary statue in Lebanon

Rescue workers search through the rubble of a building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike the previous day in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

JERUSALEM — Two Israeli soldiers will spend weeks in military prison for desecration of a Christian object after one stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon and the other photographed it.

The photo of the soldier, a cigarette dangling from his own mouth, went viral and sparked widespread outrage. It was the latest act by Israeli forces to be denounced as anti-Christian in southern Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground invasion earlier this year to target the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Israel’s military said the soldier posing would get 21 days in military prison and the soldier who photographed it would get 14.

The military “views the incident with great severity and respects freedom of religion and worship, as well as holy sites and religious symbols of all religions and communities,” spokesperson LLt. Col. Ariella Mazor wrote on X.

The photo circulated days after images of an Israeli soldier wielding an ax against a fallen statue of Jesus on the cross in the southern Lebanon village of Debel was roundly condemned by foreign leaders, Christian leaders and Israeli politicians. The military sentenced soldiers who participated in the act to time in military prison.

Israeli forces took control of southern Lebanon as part of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, which began on March 2 when the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group fired missiles over the border two days after the U.S. and Israel launched their war with Iran. Israeli forces have remained despite a weekslong truce.

Also Monday, Israel’s military said a soldier who worked as a driver had been killed in combat near the border, marking the 18th to die in the area since the start of the Iran war.

Israel’s military says it only targets buildings that were used as outposts by the Iran-backed militant group. The scale of destruction has Lebanese officials and residents worried that large numbers of people displaced by the latest war will have nowhere to return if the fragile truce holds.

Julia Frankel, The Associated Press