The Israeli army has performed more than 500 operations across Southern Lebanon in the two months since he agreed on a ceasefire with Hizbollah, with the locals preparing for more destruction as Israeli troops plan to delay their withdrawal.
Israel has carried out regular attacks since the entry into force of the ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group on November 27 after more than a year of conflict.
The ACLED nonprofit has counted 515 operations from the start of the ceasefire to 17 January. These include air and drone attacks, as well as more than 206 cases of property destruction in 39 villages. At least 37 people have been killed, according to a Financial Times report.
According to the ceasefire, Israel had to withdraw his forces from Lebanon to Sunday, and Hizbollah would move his weapons north of the Litani River, which runs up to 30 km from the de facto border, to be replaced by the Armed Forces Lebanese. But the Israeli government said on Friday that its forces will stay in Lebanon beyond the deadline, with officials discussing a 30-day extension.
Some content could not be charged. Check your internet connection or browser settings.
For the inhabitants of the Lebanese border communities – many of whom have been unable to return – the prospect of continuing the Israeli occupation leaves them uncertain when they can go home and what they will find when they do.
“They have seized the opportunity offered by the ceasefire,” said Mohammad Srour, Mayor Aita al-Chaab, for Israeli destruction in his border village. “Before the ceasefire, they grenade with artillery and air attacks. But after the ceasefire they entered the village on the ground and most of the destruction came afterwards. “
Some villagers are losing patience and thinking of returning on Sunday despite the dangers. “Whatever happens,” said Najib Hussein Halawi, a local official in Kfar Kila, another community whose inhabitants have been displaced. “There is a lot of danger, but what can you do? Sit there and be silent? ”
Israeli officials say their actions are in accordance with the ceasefire agreement and they are continuing to act because Hezbollah still has operatives and infrastructure in the area, while the LAF has not yet settled in sufficient numbers to keep militants abroad.
Unable to return to his village, Srour has sought refuge in the north, but he has been in contact with the family and friends who returned to inspect the damage.
“Aita is a disaster,” he told the village, which remains under Israeli occupation near the border, the “blue line” demarcated by the UN that separates the countries. He said most of the houses had been damaged, with bulldose infrastructure and everything, from worship houses to schools deleted from the map.
Hizbollah has warned Israel not to test his “patience” and last month issued rockets to Israeli positions in the controversial territory of Shebaa farms, due to “repeated” transgressions of the ceasefire.
Liban’s new President Joseph Aoun also said this month that “bombarding houses and destroying border villages is completely in violation of the ceasefire”. The UN peacekeeping forces this month mentioned the Israeli buldoing of a LAF observation tower and a UN border marker as “a flagrant violation”. The Israeli army said the episode had been a mistake.
Idf denied the violation of the ceasefire and said her actions in Lebanon were in “strict compliance” with international law and the agreement. He accused Hizbollah of violating the ceasefire “hundreds of times” and the use of civil infrastructure for military purposes.
“These operations are protective and necessary measures aimed at neutralizing the immediate risks of Israel’s security,” he said.
On Thursday, she said Hizbollah had used AITA to “store weapons and as a base to release hundreds of antitank missiles and missiles in Israel” and that troops carried out operations to “remove threats”. He said they found more than 30 weapons warehouses, with weapons stored in “residential buildings, yards, gardens and basements”.
Locals say Israeli decay is a daily fact. Images captured by the people around Naqoura, another border village, in December and early January show Israeli bulldozers collapsing homes.
LAF entered Naqoura on January 7, but Abbas Awada, the mayor, said residents were waiting for the army to announce that he had removed all the unsaid vehicles before returning.
Some content could not be charged. Check your internet connection or browser settings.
Before agreeing on the ceasefire, Israeli forces had already systematically destroyed buildings near the border. While they are drawn by more than a dozen villages across the west and center of the border, they remain in much of the eastern section.
Local business owner Musa Hayouk lost his home, along with a chicken farm and a yard, in Aita immediately after the ceasefire begins. After already fled the city on the southern suburbs of Beirut, he saw destruction through images from other residents who returned for a while to inspect the village.
Israel’s operation constituted a collective punishment against the residents, whether they were associated with the hizbollah, Hayouk said: “Their goals are well known and we understand them.”
The conflict began after Hizbollah began to shoot at Israel after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel. One year of cross -border fire was dramatically escalated when Israel began a land occupation and a devastating offensive against the hizballlah in October last year.
More than 4,000 people in Lebanon and 140 Israelis have been killed in conflict. About 1 million people have moved to Lebanon and 60,000 to Israel.
Ramzi Kaiss, a Human Rights Watch scholar, said the presence of Hizbollah’s military infrastructure did not justify much of Israel’s actions under international law.
“Even if there are military targets in those villages, such as the tunnels used by Hizbollah, serious questions arise if that level of destruction was needed,” he said. “Entire border villages, contrary to what some Israeli officials would like to claim, cannot be considered military objectives.”
Some of the most intense breakdowns have been in the village of Halawi, Kfar Kila. “There are explosions every day,” Halawi said. He estimated that a large part of the damage occurred after the ceasefire. Israel “was crossing many boundaries,” he said.
