It has been nearly a full year since Israel’s invasion of Lebanon came to an end with a ceasefire agreement. That deal was meant to see an end to cross-border attacks and a withdrawal of Israeli ground troops, along with the beginning of a long effort to reconstruct southern towns and villages damaged by the war.
Since then, we’ve heard consistently about Israel’s thousands of ceasefire violations, killing hundreds of people and continuing, in violation of the ceasefire, to occupy military outposts on Lebanese soil.
Though it hasn’t been mentioned as often, the post-war reconstruction remains effectively on hold on southern Lebanon, with Israeli drones regularly destroying the already battered homes near the border, and attacking construction vehicles whenever they start attempting to rehabilitate the area. Recently, an Israeli official was quoted as saying there was no point for the Lebanese to try to rebuild in those areas.
An image of southern Lebanon after the ceasefire was initially signed.
The plan, such as it is, is to totally depopulate southern Lebanon, raze it to the ground, and declare it a “Trump zone,” which will nominally be an industrial zone run by the Lebanese government, but occupied by US and Israeli troops.
That concern is compounded by recent reports that the IDF has begun constructing a wall inside Lebanese territory, with the IDF now claiming the wall doesn’t cross into Lebanon but is entirely within Israeli territory.
It has yet to be confirmed exactly where this wall is, but the reports from yesterday suggested that, far from being close to the border on the Israeli side, the wall in places cut some 2-3 kilometers into Lebanon near the towns of Aitaroun and Maroun El Ras. That Israel considers this area to be “Israeli territory” now only compounds the refusal of Israel to enter direct talks with the Lebanese government, which were expected to involve negotiations on finalizing the border.
Israel has been escalating strikes on Lebanon of late, and is also conducting mock bombing runs over southern towns with warplanes. UNIFIL peacekeepers have reported multiple violations involving Israeli tanks as well as warplanes inside southern Lebanon.
