In southern Lebanon, Israel is trying to create a no man's land

PublishedNovember 23, 2024, 2:00 pm

With the systematic destruction of villages in southern Lebanon, Israel is, according to experts, trying to create an uninhabitable buffer zone in order to prevent a return of Hezbollah after the fighting stops.

In order to prevent a return of Hezbollah to the border areas after the cessation of fighting, Israel is systematically destroying villages in southern Lebanon.

According to Lebanese officials, nearly twenty villages near the border between Lebanon and Israel have been 70% destroyed since September 23, the start of the bombing campaign launched by Israel in Lebanon against Hezbollah. It was followed on September 30 by a ground offensive which dynamited numerous buildings.

“Israel appears to be creating an uninhabitable no-man's land all along the border,” says Peter Harling, founder of Synaps, a research center based in Beirut.

Israeli analysts interviewed in Jerusalem believe that Israel's goal is not to conquer southern Lebanon, but to repel the Hezbollah threat to the north of the country. “It's just about having some guarantee that Hezbollah is no longer close to the border and can no longer launch attacks against northern Israel. That’s the main goal (…), we don’t want Hezbollah there,” explains expert and former Israeli army soldier Orna Mizrahi.

When questioned, the Israeli army accused Hezbollah of having placed its military sites and weapons depots in densely populated civilian areas.

Israel's goal is to create an uninhabitable buffer zone. “The Israeli destructions (…) aim to transform the border region into scorched earth,” declares Abdel Monhem Choucair, mayor of this locality which had nearly 30,000 souls before the war. “They destroyed schools, mosques and infrastructure, even cemeteries were not spared,” he adds.

In the small neighboring village of Mheibib, more than 84% of buildings had been razed as of November 7, according to an AFP count based on the same data from Microsoft Maps and satellite analyses. Further south, in Yaroun, of the approximately 500 buildings in the center of the village, 380 have disappeared.

Military expert Hassan Jouni explains that by destroying these villages and burning the wooded areas surrounding them, Israel wants to clear its observation points.

“This buffer zone will become exposed to Israeli control and surveillance,” said Mr. Jouni, former commander of the Lebanese army war school. This will make it impossible to “repeat the experience of October 7 in Gaza on the Lebanese border,” he adds.

Israel has accused Hezbollah's elite unit, al-Radwan, which it decapitated in targeted strikes, of wanting to attack Israeli territory.

Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000 after numerous Hezbollah attacks, following 22 years of occupation. In 2006, a war had already pitted it against the pro-Iranian group, which never respected a UN resolution providing for it to withdraw from the region.

Today, negotiations through the United States to achieve a ceasefire focus on the full implementation of this resolution according to which only the Lebanese army and peacekeepers must be deployed in this part of the south.

Calev Ben-Dor, a former analyst at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, explains that “long-range rockets” are one of the “main threats.”

Hassan Jouni believes, however, that the Israeli tactic is doomed to failure, “because people will return and rebuild their homes in the event of a political agreement.”