The Israeli military has carried out more than 500 operations across southern Lebanon in the two months since it agreed to a ceasefire with Hezbollah.
Israel has carried out regular attacks since a ceasefire with the Lebanese militant group took effect on November 27 after more than a year of conflict.
The nonprofit group Acled counted 515 operations from the start of the ceasefire to January 17. These include air and drone strikes and more than 206 cases of property destruction in 39 villages. According to the Financial Times, at least 37 people were killed.
According to the ceasefire, Israel was due to withdraw its forces on Sunday Lebanon and Hezbollah should move its weapons north of the Litani River, up to 30 km from the de facto border, to be replaced by the Lebanese Forces. But the Israeli government said Friday its forces would remain in Lebanon beyond the deadline. Officials are discussing a 30-day extension.
For residents of Lebanon’s border communities, many of whom have been unable to return – the prospect of continued Israeli occupation leaves uncertain when they will be able to go home and what they will find if they do.
“They took advantage of the opportunity provided by the ceasefire,” Mohammad Srour, mayor of Aita El-Chaab, said of the Israeli destruction in his border village. “Before the ceasefire they used artillery and air strikes. But after the ceasefire they entered the village on the ground and the greater part of the destruction came afterwards. “
Some villagers are losing patience and thinking of returning on Sunday regardless of the risks. “Whatever happens, happens,” said Najib Hussein Halawi, a local official in Kfar Kila, another community whose residents were displaced. “There is a lot of danger, but what can you do? Sit and shut up? ”
Israeli officials say their actions are consistent with the ceasefire agreement, and they continue to act because Hezbollah still has personnel and infrastructure in the region, while the LAF has not yet deployed in sufficient numbers to keep militants out.
Srour has been unable to return to his village and has sought refuge further north, but he is in contact with family and friends who have returned to inspect the damage.
“Aita is a disaster,” he said of the village, which remains under Israeli occupation near the border, the unrelenting “blue line” that separates the countries. He said most homes were damaged, with infrastructure bulldozed and everything from places of worship to schools wiped off the map.
Hezbollah has warned Israel not to test its “patience” and last month launched rockets into Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms territory over what it described as “repeated” ceasefire violations.
Lebanon’s new president, Joseph Aoun, also said this month that “houses are being bombed and border villages are being destroyed.” UN peacekeeping this month cited Israeli bulldozing of a LAF observation tower and a UN border marker as a “blatant violation”.
The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment on its operations since the ceasefire. But on Thursday it said Hezbollah used Aita to “store weapons and as a base to fire hundreds of rockets and anti-tank missiles into Israel” and that the troops carried out operations to “remove threats.” It said they found more than 30 weapons caches, with weapons stored in “residential buildings, courtyards, kindergartens and basements.”
Locals say Israeli demolitions are a daily fact. Images taken by people near Naqoura, another border village, in December and early January show Israeli bulldozers appearing to demolish homes.
The LAF entered Naqoura January 7th But Abbas Awada, the mayor, said residents were waiting for the army to announce it had removed all unexploded ordnance before returning.
Before the ceasefire was agreed, the Israeli forces had already systematically destroyed buildings near the border. While they have withdrawn from more than a dozen villages along the west and center of the border, they remain in most of the eastern section.
Local business owner Musa Hayouk lost his home along with a chicken farm and a lumber yard in Aita shortly after the ceasefire began. Having already fled the city for Beirut’s southern suburbs, he saw the destruction through images of other residents who briefly returned to inspect the village.
Israel’s operation was aimed at collective punishment for residents, regardless of whether they were associated with Hezbollah, Hayouk said: “Their goals are known and we understand them.”
The conflict began after Hezbollah fired on Israel following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel. A year of cross-border fire escalated dramatically when Israel launched a ground invasion and devastating offensive against Hezbollah in October last year.
More than 4,000 people in Lebanon and 140 Israelis were killed in the conflict. About 1 million people were displaced in Lebanon and 60,000 in Israel.
Ramzi Kaiss, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said that the presence of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure did not justify many of Israel’s actions under international law.
“Even if there are military targets in these villages, such as “entire border villages, contrary to what Israeli officials would like to claim, cannot be considered military targets.”
Some of the most intense demolition was in Halawi’s village of Kfar Kila. “There are explosions every day,” Halawi said. He estimated that much of the damage occurred after the ceasefire. Israel has “crossed many borders,” he said.
