You can look up Maroun Al-Ras [0] and it's map coordinate [1]. If you search for the name, you find a garden of the same name, but not the village. The instagram reel that was posted earlier had more context [2].
From wikipedia:
> In October 2024, IDF forces operated in the village as part of its invasion of southern Lebanon. The Israeli flag was raised, after the victory.
Which Apple might use as a justification. There is a Israeli flag, so it must belong to them.
They did the same thing when there was a war between India and China a while ago. As brutal as it sounds, time and again Apple always loves to be on the side of whichever market is bigger. It's really that simple (business wise). Morally? Perhaps not.
This reminds me a bit of the Gulf of America fiasco from last year where if you changed your location to outside the US it would go back to showing Gulf of Mexico.
I'm not sure why they would do this for US users unless the US government requested it.
Google maps has done this forever. A good chunk of countries have disputed territories, and never in human history there has been a "universal" map that everybody agrees on.
Removed means they were there before which means comparison to other maps means nothing. It's possible Apple never had them in the first place. It's completely unverifiable with the link or your links.
OSM is a foundational data layer for GIS. If you're building a mapping service, you're almost certainly using OSM augmented by satellite imagery and other sources to find population zones that OSM has not found yet.
If you look at the Apple Maps satellite layer, you see thousands of structures spread across the area.
It is a reasonable assumption that these population centers were labeled and Apple (or one of its data partners) has withdrawn the labels.
You can very easily verify the claim by following the link. Other than three major cities, there are no agglomeration listed in Lebanon. Other countries have detailed maps.
Is anyone stopping you from doing that? Do you need my permission? If so, granted. I think you should spend whatever effort you want to verify claims if you believe that would be of value.
Why do you say unverified? You can activate the hybrid satellite view and look around. There are many towns and cities showing up on satellite view without any label. That's easily verifiable.
I believe OP is asking for a before/after of Apple Maps, because just seeing the map now isn't telling us whether Apple previously disclosed the villages and towns. I'm sure OP isn't thinking that the region is full of random roads out in the wilderness leading to nothing, which is the wrong conclusion the downvoters are probably leaping at.
Those towns and villages will be rebuilt after the war. This is not excuse for what Apple did, it is justification for ethnic cleansing and occupation. Same as with Gaza City. It existed for 3500 years, it will be rebuilt and it will outlive the US/Israel for sure.
I'm sure Apple doesn't see it as malicious, and that's precisely the issue. Apple's political grandstanding has forced them into awkward and contradictory positions.
Yeah, maybe they have some kind of computer vision algorithm that automatically recognizes that the villages are now only rubble in satellite pictures and auomatically update the map /s
This saddens me as well, because that's the type of thing that happens every day where I live, but...
> I don’t understand why it is allowed to continue.
The answer is even sadder. It's even worse. And it is as follows: because there's not enough people who are taking action, and from those taking action there's not enough people in power to change something significantly. At least that's how I see it. And... I can't even blame those who don't take action - because many people feel completely powerless, they feel like "what you can do to stop this war/other thing if you're just a regular human?"
There's also a huge cost for taking action about this especially in the US. You can easily get thrown out of school, have your career destroyed or be deported.
This is mostly a US thing. Netanyahu and Putin are two war criminals according to International Court of Justice. Although Trump threatened the ICJ, this doesn't change that basic fact.
This goes beyond direct action by individuals, it’s completely obvious what’s happening and it happens because the US political system has been captured.
This is quite normal for politics-related news on HN. Many people flag them and they disappear from the FP. Whatever contentious issue you take, there always people who will dislike an even or how it's presented and will flag the submission.
What’s the point in sharing these articles on HN, when the comment section shows they are clearly just used as an excuse for people to vocally confirm their own biases?
This is not an article, but a link to Apple Plans/Maps where you can observe all locations have been removed. As for now, it is hard to conclude anything but this looks like a bug (I know I am being optimistic).
I don't know either but here is the answer from Wikipedia: "The main provider of map data is TomTom, but data is also supplied by Automotive Navigation Data, Getchee, Hexagon AB, IGN, Increment P, Intermap Technologies, LeadDog, MDA Information Systems, OpenStreetMap, and Waze."[1]
Satellite source would require detailed editing, and there’s very little chance those are fully automated. The entire Middle-East is being blocked, but only Lebanon is being affected.
It could be that they have a provider in Lebanon that was bombed but I’ve never heard of a cartographer with local dependencies like that.
Yeah, that’s the default option for detailed databases like that. Large deletion are either technical issues (and that should affect a lot more than one country) or deliberate edits.
This kind of innuendo adds nothing of value to the conversation. Either say what you intend to say, or just don't post. The coy "I know something but can't say it" is silly and just sounds like you have a persecution complex.
We’re not allowed to criticise Israel because most jews are lunatics that consider such criticism an antisemitic attack on their person regardless of what actual ties they may have to the country.
Entire segments of the podcast sphere are making their money talking about these so-called unspeakable subjects. Why don't you share what you really think.
Apple does much of their own mapping but they also rely quite a bit on external data sources, whichever one of those they use probably dropped the data for one reason or another.
They might genuinely not exist any more. The world's attention was heavily distracted by the campaign in Iran and the Hormuz strait while Israel never stopped doing their ...stuff... in Lebanon.
"The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations."
"The demolitions came after Israel’s minister of defence, Israel Katz, called for the destruction of “all houses” in border villages “in accordance with the model used in Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza” to stop threats to communities in northern Israel. The Israeli military destroyed 90% of homes in Rafah, in south Gaza."
Apple: 1984 as a service. "We know walled gardens."
Quick: someone do the graphic, you can sell merch. Mail a freebie and a purchase link to every makerspace on the planet.
Some interesting background to current hostilities: "The UN Security Council has voted to wind up the near 50 year UNIFIL [peace keeping] mission after lobbying from Israel pushed the United States to veto its renewal. The mission will end in 2027."https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2025/08/un...
From wikipedia:
> In October 2024, IDF forces operated in the village as part of its invasion of southern Lebanon. The Israeli flag was raised, after the victory.
Which Apple might use as a justification. There is a Israeli flag, so it must belong to them.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroun_al-Ras
[1]: https://maps.apple.com/frame?center=33.107500%2C35.444722&sp...
[2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47742363
I'm not sure why they would do this for US users unless the US government requested it.
Because the US govt. is petty and vindictive at the moment.
EDIT: I'm at -2 for stating a fact.
Bing: https://www.bing.com/maps?cp=33.185932%7E35.321974&lvl=11.9&...
Google: https://www.google.com/maps/@33.1649913,35.2506666,11.55z
OSM: https://www.openstreetbrowser.org/#map=11/33.1554/35.2890
If you look at the Apple Maps satellite layer, you see thousands of structures spread across the area.
It is a reasonable assumption that these population centers were labeled and Apple (or one of its data partners) has withdrawn the labels.
Just linking to a map doesn't tell us what was removed or when.
You can open the link and see it for yourself; what other "verification" do you need?
ps. your domain is misconfigured for your website, the www prefix is missing so only b....org works, but the link in your HN bio, doesn't.
This genocide of course involves deleting those villages.
Why is Yemen, Iran, Sudan and Ukraine still mapped then?
And I’m not just talking about Apple Maps.
> I don’t understand why it is allowed to continue.
The answer is even sadder. It's even worse. And it is as follows: because there's not enough people who are taking action, and from those taking action there's not enough people in power to change something significantly. At least that's how I see it. And... I can't even blame those who don't take action - because many people feel completely powerless, they feel like "what you can do to stop this war/other thing if you're just a regular human?"
You who intentionally hide this information are complicit in genocide.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Maps
Could it be that their data source is tied to satellite data that is now being blacked out?
It could be that they have a provider in Lebanon that was bombed but I’ve never heard of a cartographer with local dependencies like that.
Ironically, this is actually antisemitic.
"The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations."
"The demolitions came after Israel’s minister of defence, Israel Katz, called for the destruction of “all houses” in border villages “in accordance with the model used in Rafah and Beit Hanoun in Gaza” to stop threats to communities in northern Israel. The Israeli military destroyed 90% of homes in Rafah, in south Gaza."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/12/how-israeli-of...
Quick: someone do the graphic, you can sell merch. Mail a freebie and a purchase link to every makerspace on the planet.
Some interesting background to current hostilities: "The UN Security Council has voted to wind up the near 50 year UNIFIL [peace keeping] mission after lobbying from Israel pushed the United States to veto its renewal. The mission will end in 2027." https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/whatsinblue/2025/08/un...