Israel's southern Lebanon line leaves villages occupied and displaced

Israel is continuing to occupy large parts of southern Lebanon despite a framework agreement signed in June that was meant to secure a phased withdrawal, according to a current report on the border area. The report says homes and infrastructure have been systematically demolished in dozens of villages, leaving residents uncertain whether they will be able to return. It describes a shifting military line that has reshaped life in the south and kept tens of thousands of Lebanese displaced.

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The account identifies Khiam, near the border with Israel, as one of the affected villages, and says one resident has been living in Hasbaiyya, about a half-hour drive to the north-east, for the past few months. The resident, who was not named in full, said southerners were living through a tragedy and blamed failed politics. The report also says Israel currently occupies a zone stretching up to 10 kilometres into southern Lebanon.

The situation follows a period of renewed fighting after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2, the first such attack in more than a year. Hezbollah said the strike was in response to daily Israeli violations of the November 2024 ceasefire and the assassination two days earlier of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Israel then intensified its war on Lebanon again, and the report says the renewed attacks and reinvasion displaced more than 1.2 million people.

The issue matters because the June framework agreement was intended to create a path for Israeli withdrawal and a replacement security arrangement in the south. Under the reported plan, pilot zones would be handed over to the Lebanese Armed Forces, which would then disarm any Hezbollah forces in those areas. The continued occupation and demolition campaign suggest that the agreement has not yet produced the return or security guarantees that displaced communities were expecting.