Weapons and Tunnel Shaft Found near UN Base in Southern Lebanon, Says Israel

UNIFIL peacekeepers along the Lebanese side of the Blue Line, September 2023. Source: @UNIFIL/X. Source: @UNIFIL/X

The IDF said all of the equipment was destroyed without harming the UN base.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon discovered weapons depots in several civilian buildings near a United Nations base, the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday.

Troops from the 11th Brigade Combat Team found numerous weapons along with a tunnel shaft during an operation to clear an area in western Lebanon of Hezbollah terror infrastructure.

The IDF said all of the equipment was destroyed without harming the UN base.

Under the terms of a two-month ceasefire that went into effect on November 27, Hezbollah is supposed to withdraw its armed presence from areas of southern Lebanon south of the Litani River. Israeli forces will also withdraw from southern Lebanon in stages. The Lebanese Armed Forces is to be deployed in southern Lebanon including along the 120 km border with Israel, as will monitors from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

On numerous occasions, Hezbollah launched missiles at Israeli forces and communities from near UNIFIL positions. In October, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to withdraw the UNIFIL contingent, which is made up of 10,500 soldiers from 50 countries.

UNIFIL was established in 1978 to confirm Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon. The “Blue Line” demarcating the 120 km-long Israeli-Lebanese border was created in 2000 by UN cartographers to verify Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon, which the UN Security Council later certified as complete. The border runs from Rosh HaNikra on the Mediterranean coast to Mount Dov, where the Israeli-Lebanese border converges with Syria.

Israeli officials have been critical of the peacekeepers for failing to stop Hezbollah.

After the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began launching rockets and launching drones at northern Israel communities daily. According to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah is forbidden from operating in southern Lebanon south of the Litani River.