Prodded by Jerusalem, UN confirms Hezbollah has set up outpost in Israeli territory

The UN peacekeeping mission on the Israeli-Lebanese border has confirmed, following Israeli pressure, that operatives of the Hezbollah terror group have established an outpost within Israeli territory.

According to Kan news, which originally reported on the Iranian proxy’s armed presence inside Israel proper, the IDF approached UNIFIL regarding the matter some time ago, but the watchdog only came to the site following diplomatic pressure from Israel at UN Headquarters.

Upon inspection, UNIFIL confirmed that tents set up and manned by Hezbollah have indeed been established on the Israeli side of the internationally recognized Blue Line in the contested Mount Dov region, an area claimed by Israel, Lebanon and Syria and also known as the Shebaa Farms.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan wrote that Hezbollah’s actions constitute a violation of UN Resolution 1701, enacted following the end of the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and ratified by both countries. The resolution calls for armed groups besides the official Lebanese military and UNIFIL to remain north of the country’s Litani River.

The letter also contained photographs of the Lebanese position in Israel.

Furthermore, the former public security minister noted that Hezbollah has built 27 outposts along the Blue Line over the past year, and that he expects the UN to take action on the matter, as these positions also violate Resolution 1701.

An aerial photo of the Hezbollah presence in Israel in the letter from Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan to the UN Secretary-General and UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, Lebanon also turned to the Security Council to accuse Israel of provocatively violating Lebanese air and sea sovereignty.

Israel and Lebanon do not have a formal border due to territorial disputes, but they largely abide by the UN-recognized Blue Line between the countries.

The Blue Line is marked with blue barrels along the border and is several meters from the Israeli fence in some areas, which is built entirely within Israeli territory.

While the IDF said it aims to deal with the tents through diplomatic means by having a UN peacekeeping force remove the Hezbollah operatives, it added that force may be used eventually.

The IDF believes the tents do not pose a threat to Israel’s security, despite violating its sovereignty.

Photo from Ambassador Gilad Erdan’s letter.

The IDF has been working on a new border wall with Lebanon to replace an aging fence in the area. The engineering work, which typically takes place to the north of Israel’s fence but within Israeli territory, has sparked several minor clashes on the border in recent months.

Work on the wall began in 2018. By 2020, the military and Defense Ministry Borders and Security Fence Directorate had completed only 15 kilometers (9 miles) of concrete walling along the approximately 130-kilometer (80-mile) border in order to protect the 22 adjacent Israeli villages.

The plan is to construct a barrier along the entire border — a project that would cost NIS 1.7 billion ($470 million).

An aerial photo of a Hezbollah operative inside Israeli territory near the Blue Line.

UNIFIL has stepped in at times and stopped the engineering work after complaints by the Lebanese Army of Israeli forces allegedly crossing the Blue Line.

The new Hezbollah posts were believed to have been established by the terror group in response to the IDF engineering work.

UNIFIL has been in Lebanon since 1978. Composed of nearly 10,000 soldiers, it is deployed in the south of the country — a stronghold of Hezbollah — to maintain a barrier with Israel, as the two countries technically remain at war.

The Hezbollah terror group has long been the IDF’s most significant adversary on Israel’s borders, with an estimated arsenal of nearly 150,000 rockets and missiles that can reach anywhere in Israel.