Naqoura’s mayor said the destruction in his town had doubled since the ceasefire came into effect with Israel’s ongoing attacks [AFP/Getty]
A committee overseeing the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah met Wednesday, as Israeli forces bulldozed a village and settlers crossed into southern Lebanon in a gross violation of the deal.
The committee monitoring the US-brokered deal, which came into effect on 27 November, met in Ras Naqoura near the Israeli border. The multinational panel includes generals from the US – which is leading the committee – France, Israel, Lebanon, and the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL.
The meeting took place as Israel continued to demolish Lebanese border towns and villages, violating the ceasefire with airstrikes and shelling. Under the deal, Israel has 60 days by the end of January to withdraw its military entities still present in parts of southern Lebanon.
Israeli drones and war planes have also continued to conduct reconnaissance flights over the Lebanese capital.
“The United States, France, UNIFIL, LAF, and IDF met again on December 18 in Naqoura. UNIFIL hosted the meeting, with the United States serving as chair, assisted by France, and joined by the LAF and IDF,” a joint statement read.
“The Mechanism will continue to meet in this format regularly and coordinate closely to support implementation of the ceasefire agreement and UNSCR 1701.”
UN Security Council Resolution 1701 was adopted in 2006 to end the summer war that year between Hezbollah and Israel was but was never implemented.
Hezbollah and Israel began firing at each other on 8 October last year in a fallout over the Gaza war, but the fighting escalated into a full-blown war on 23 September, which saw swathes of southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Baalbek-Hermel region devastated.
Israeli forces then invaded southern Lebanon on 1 October, claiming it was a “limited incursion” to push Hezbollah back from the border.
Thousands were killed in Lebanon and the war triggered the country’s worst displacement crisis with more than a million being forced to leave their homes.
While the Israeli military gradually pulls out of south Lebanon, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) must be deployed in their thousands, especially south of the Litani River, UNIFIL’s area of operations. Hezbollah must move its fighters and heavy weaponry behind the river.
‘Naqoura is 70 percent destroyed’
Continuing its scorched earth policy, Israel claims it is clearing southern Lebanon of all installations belonging to Hezbollah, and says its airstrikes are targeting the Shia militant group’s military infrastructure and personnel.
While the LAF and UNIFIL are both obliged to dismantle what remains of Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the region, and the Lebanese army must stop any weapons being smuggled into the country and disarm all militias, observers say Israel is taking advantage of the 60-day deadline to destroy what it can.
Israel had warned that it would continue to target what it deemed “active threats” from Lebanon even if a ceasefire deal was reached. A side deal between Washington and Tel Aviv is believed to have given Israel the right to strike if the LAF and UNIFIL do not act after being informed of an “imminent threat.”
In the village of Naqoura, where UNIFIL is based and where the panel met on Wednesday, the situation is bleak like in much of southern Lebanon, where entire towns and villages were flattened in Israel’s relentless offensive.
The mayor of Naqoura, Abbas Awada, revealed that the percentage of destruction in his town increased from 35 percent to 70 percent after the ceasefire came into effect, expressing his surprise at the lack of action by UNIFIL forces to stop the Israeli violations.
“The Israeli enemy is systematically destroying the town located only three kilometres from the border, where the percentage of destruction has risen to 70 percent since the truce took effect,” Awada said in a statement, according to Lebanese media.
He said the municipality is unable to inspect the full extent of the damage yet as the Israeli army continues to prevent residents from entering the village.
Since 27 November, the Israeli military has frequently warned people from approaching the no-go border zone as long as Israeli forces remain there. So far, Israeli troops have started pulling out of the town of Khiam, making way for LAF soldiers to move in.
“The videos and photos received from there [Naqoura] confirm that the Israeli enemy army brought its vehicles to bulldoze homes, shops, and civilian facilities in an attempt to take revenge on the town and its people…despite the cessation of hostilities,” Awada said.
Awada said he was surprised by the lack of action show by UNIFIL and authorities in charge of monitoring the ceasefire, despite the UN peacekeepers being located there.
Israeli settlers cross into Lebanon
In another serious violation of the ceasefire deal, a group of far-right Israeli settlers from the Uri Tzafon group crossed into southern Lebanon from Israel and put up a tent settlement.
The Times of Israel reported 10 days ago that the group, advocating the annexation and settlement of southern Lebanon as they claim it is part of their “Promised Land”, said they had crossed the border and established an outpost.
The Israeli army said it removed the group of settlers on Wednesday, saying the “serious incident” was under investigation.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that the civilians indeed crossed the blue line by a few metres, and after being identified by IDF forces, they were removed from the area,” said a statement by the Israeli military.
“Any attempt to approach or cross the border into Lebanese territory without coordination poses a life-threatening risk and interferes with the IDF’s ability to operate in the area and carry out its mission,” the statement said.
The Times of Israel said the area the group claimed to have entered was in the no-go zone still being occupied by Israeli forces.
Uri Tzafon, or The South Lebanon Settlement Movement, was established after a similar extremist movement was formed among Israeli settlers, seeking to reoccupy and settle the war-torn Gaza Strip. The latter is backed by far-right and hardline parliamentarian settlers in Israel such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 at the height of the Lebanese Civil War and occupied parts of the south until withdrawing in May 2000.
