Most Hezbollah Military Sites Have Been Handed Over to Lebanese Army

Lebanese Army reportedly dismantling old sites, most of infrastructure removed

Though it so far does not appear to be helping the ceasefire, and Israel is carrying out near daily attacks on Lebanese soil, Hezbollah has complied by all indications with the terms of the deal, and reports it has no presence south of the Litani River, as the pact requires.

There are still Hezbollah facilities south of the Litani River though, old facilities that are often the pretext for Israeli attacks on those areas. This weekend, it is being reported that Hezbollah has been handing over those old military facilities to the Lebanese Army, and that the army now has control of most of them.

One source familiar with the process said that there had been 265 such positions identified south of the Litani River, and Hezbollah has handed over “about 190” of them. The process continues, and reportedly Hezbollah is also handing over some of its facilities further north, even though that isn’t strictly required under the ceasefire deal.

Lebanese soldiers | image from Wikimedia under C.C. 2.0

Reports citing officials linked to the Lebanese government have confirmed the move is ongoing, adding that Army personnel have been dismantling virtually all of the facilities handed over to them in the south, and have begun entering the Hezbollah camps they’ve been given north of the Litani River.

Despite the conspicuous lack of Hezbollah presence south of the Litani, Israel has kept attacking that area, and nearly always presents those attacks as targeting “Hezbollah operatives.” There is never any publicly provided evidence to support those accusations.

Last week, Israeli drones attacked an engineering truck and bulldozers that were clearing fields destroyed during the Israeli invasion and occupation, and were trying to prepare the land for planting season. Here too they were presented as Hezbollah operatives, though no explanation was given for why Hezbollah would be repairing farm fields.

A recent assessment from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization showed over $700 million in damages to southern Lebanon’s agriculture industry, with more than $118 million of it direct damage inflicted on the sector, and the rest infrastructure-related.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.