Recent fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has intensified, with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) targeting Hezbollah’s infrastructure, including weapons storage units, which are strategically located within civilian villages.
Images and videos of recent strikes in southern Lebanon show precision missiles hitting buildings that are considered civilian structures.
Hezbollah’s use of civilian infrastructure has created a sophisticated network of meeting houses, weapons storage units, and hidden missile launching positions throughout southern Lebanon and the suburbs of Beirut. This strategy makes it difficult to wage war against Hezbollah without endangering civilians.
Since Monday, over 1,800 casualties have been reported in Lebanon, with at least 560 people killed, including 50 children and over 90 women, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
On Thursday, the U.S. again called for a ceasefire in Lebanon. Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed that the U.S. is not providing military or intelligence assistance to Israel in its operations in Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for a ceasefire and instructed his troops to continue fighting “with full force.”
French President Emmanuel Macron warned Israel that expanding its operations into Lebanon would have consequences. Israeli commanders on the border with Lebanon have ordered troops to “prepare” for a possible ground invasion.
While no invasion has been ordered yet, Israeli and U.S. security experts believe that Hezbollah’s integration into Lebanese civilian life will make a war against the terrorist network even more costly in terms of human life than the conflict in Gaza.
According to the Israel-based Alma Research and Education Center, Hezbollah has long relied on civilian infrastructure for its operations.
“Hezbollah’s practice of renting houses, rooms, and warehouses in Shiite civilian areas is well-known since the early 2000s,” said Tal Beeri, head of the research department at Alma, adding that the group also rents structures in non-Shia areas of Lebanon.
“Evidence of this was found in looted documents and investigations of Hezbollah operatives during the 2006 Lebanon War. Since then, Hezbollah has only accelerated this practice, and estimates suggest that every third house in southern Lebanon has been used by Hezbollah for its needs,” he added.
Beeri shared research with Digital that showed findings from 2006, revealing how Hezbollah has integrated itself into the daily lives of villages across Lebanon.
Hezbollah officials known as “Rabat” – meaning “the liaison” – are stationed in villages throughout Lebanon and serve as intermediaries, coordinating the needs of villagers with Hezbollah’s localized operations.
The Rabat, which can oversee multiple villages, reportedly builds relationships with residents by facilitating requests for aid, such as money, food, and even help with local disputes.
“In places where Hezbollah decides to expropriate or lease civilian land or properties from the residents for the purpose of its military activities, the ‘Rabat’ conducts the expropriation or leasing procedure vis-à-vis the relevant resident,” Beeri found.
The report, based on documents seized following the 2006 war with Hezbollah, found that the Rabat also recommended to local Hezbollah units the best locations in each town that are “suitable to serve the human shield tactic” based on storage requirements surrounding concealment, infrastructure type, and weapons placement.
The Rabat then coordinates logistics between the terrorist organization and the local property owner.
“The ‘Rabat’ strengthens Hezbollah’s grip on the Lebanese village residents’ day-to-day life, their property, and needs, allowing Hezbollah to turn them into human shields on a wider scale,” the report found.
Hezbollah’s control over local communities and its ability to stockpile and transfer weapons throughout the country through a sophisticated tunnel system indicate that the international community’s efforts to prevent a third war between the terrorist network and Israel have failed.
While it remains unclear if the U.N. Security Council members are seeking to revise the resolution to counter the terrorist group’s movements and stop Israeli operations in civilian areas, the international community has called on Netanyahu to cease his campaign. Many leaders from both adversarial and allied nations have strongly warned against invading Lebanon.
Netanyahu is scheduled to address the U.N. body on Friday, which has been described by the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. as the most significant speech in his roughly 10 years of attending the top summit.