Israel has fortified positions in south Lebanon, Unifil says

Israel has fortified five military positions it built inside Lebanon and continues to hold two buffer zones, breaching last November's ceasefire and preventing the Lebanese army from fully deploying in the area, a spokesman for UN peacekeepers has told The National.

The Israeli-occupied positions, dispersed along the southern border, are fortified with wide earth berms. “These sites are being improved periodically,” Unifil spokesman Dany Ghafary said in an interview. “Soldiers are being added to them, improvements being made.”

Since November, the positions have housed more troops, new bunkers have been created and heavier equipment such as tanks have arrived. The size of each point, however, has not expanded.

Israel also controls two buffer zones in south Lebanon. While its army operates freely inside them, it maintains no fixed military installations there – although Lebanese civilians and military personnel are barred from entering, Mr Ghafary said.

Under the November ceasefire, Israel was to withdraw completely from south Lebanon while Hezbollah agreed to dismantle its military presence south of the Litani River and hand over its weapons to the Lebanese army. The deal ended 14 months of fighting.

Hezbollah has since disarmed in the south and the Lebanese army has partially deployed in its stead. But Israel continues to launch attacks into Lebanese territory daily and occupy parts of south Lebanon – a military presence which its Defence Minister Israel Katz says will remain “indefinitely”.

“The Israeli army is carrying out breaches along the 'Blue Line',” Mr Ghafary said, referring to a demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel that effectively functions as a border. “We’re talking about a very high number of breaches.”

Final time

Because of Israel’s positions and buffer zones, the Lebanese army cannot complete its deployment south of the Litani and Unifil cannot fully carry out its mandate. “No one can pass through these five points and the two buffer zones,” Mr Ghafary said. “Unifil and the Lebanese need access to the Blue Line.”

He added that such restrictions – including strikes on Lebanese troops stationed nearby – violate UN Resolution 1701.

Unifil, deployed in south Lebanon for nearly five decades, was renewed “for a final time” last month with a mandate until the end of 2026. The mission will then have one year to conduct a phased withdrawal.

The phase-out comes as the US pushes for its own road map to be implemented in Lebanon. It hopes that such a move will bring about Hezbollah’s full disarmament nationwide, but Washington has provided little guarantee of Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory. Hezbollah has rejected the plan despite the Lebanese government’s endorsement.

Currently, 10,000 Unifil troops are stationed south of the Litani, alongside about 7,000 Lebanese soldiers.

“The LAF [Lebanese Armed Forces] has been spreading throughout south Lebanon since November 2024 and Unifil has been helping to facilitate this,” Mr Ghafary said. “They need numbers. They need major preparations in order to fully take over.”

The withdrawal process for Unifil's military and civilian personnel will be co-ordinated alongside the Lebanese government.

But the Lebanese army is chronically underfunded and under-equipped, lacking long-range missiles, air defence systems and a capable air force.

Unifil's withdrawal, Mr Ghafary warned, must be carefully co-ordinated to avoid leaving a security vacuum.

“If we withdraw 10,000 Unifil troops in a disorganised or unsafe way, the area will be exposed to a vacuum that will threaten stability, which is why this needs major planning and co-ordination,” Mr Ghafary said.

Since the ceasefire came into force late last year, Unifil has recorded more than 5,000 air violations, more than 100 raids or drone strikes in its area of ​​operations, and, through co-ordination with the LAF, uncovered more than 320 weapons caches or abandoned weaponry.