Lebanese artist Ali Sbeity has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Kafra, according to local media reports and the international artistic freedom organization Artists at Risk Connection (ARC).
Sbeity painted vibrant portraits and landscapes of his rural hometown in Southern Lebanon, often sharing his works on his Facebook page.
The Beirut-based news outlet Al-Akhbar reported that Sbeity was killed in an Israeli bombing on Kafra, located in the Southern part of the country, where Israel has intensified air strikes in recent weeks.
ARC’s executive director, Julie Trébault, told Hyperallergic that the organization confirmed Sbeity’s death with a “local partner” in Lebanon. The organization also pointed to a Facebook comment from a user claiming to be Sbeity’s cousin, which appeared to confirm his death in the comment section of a post announcing Sbeity’s killing. Hyperallergic has contacted that user for comment, but has not yet heard back.
Israel renewed its aerial attacks on Lebanon earlier this month amid fallout from the United States-backed assassination of Iran’s former leader Ali Khamenei. The south of Lebanon, where Sbeity lived and was killed, has been particularly hard-hit by Israeli offensives, which have displaced over a million people and killed more than 1,000 since the US and Israel first struck Iran on February 28.
According to the Lebanese government news agency, Israel struck Kafra on the afternoon of March 19. The statement did not clarify the target of Israel’s attack.
Al-Akhbar reported that Sbeity participated in numerous local arts exhibitions and created murals for schools in Beirut. He also produced olive oil soaps, wood works, and painted pottery for a living, and was inspired by Iranian, European, and Russian styles.
“Ali Sbeity painted the South of Lebanon not as a landscape, but as a living memory of loss, resilience, and quiet beauty,” Trébault said in a statement. “His killing is not only a devastating loss for his family and community, but part of a broader pattern in which artists and cultural workers are killed, displaced, or silenced in contexts of conflict.”
