Hezbollah's war has destroyed South Lebanon, BBC report reveals

Hezbollah's war has destroyed South Lebanon, BBC report reveals

SETH J. FRANTZMAN

The BBC recently reported on southern Lebanon where it said it saw “air strike destruction in deserted towns.” The report sought to downplay the role Hezbollah has had in bringing this disaster on southern Lebanon. However, reading between the lines, one can get a sense of how Hezbollah’s thousands of attacks on Israel since it joined the war in support of Hamas on October 8, has harmed civilian life in Lebanon.

Hezbollah is an Iranian-backed terrorist group that illegally occupies southern Lebanon and has illegally stockpiled more than 150,000 missiles and rockets. It has also acquired anti-tank missiles in the thousands and several thousand attack drones in recent years, as well as precision-guided munitions. Some of its weapons are developed locally, while other are trafficked from Iran.

Hezbollah has festooned southern Lebanon with weapons, moving them into villages and building networks of bunkers, observation posts, launch sites, and other illegal terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon. After the 2006 war, the UN and Lebanon were supposed to keep Lebanon from creating a state within a state in southern Lebanon, and returning to the border.

However, the group is exponentially more powerful today than in 2006. Similar to their blind eye to Hamas activities, the international community has sought to enable Hezbollah’s threats or pretend not to notice them.

The result of ignoring Hezbollah’s threats have now become apparent. The group began attacks on Israel on October 8 – one day after the Hamas incursion and brutal October 7 attack in Israel’s South – and has now launched thousands of missiles and rockets at Israel.

Israel has responded proportionately, often targeting Hezbollah launch sites or observation posts, meaning that, in general, Hezbollah’s fighters simply move from place to place to attack again. Hezbollah has lost some fighters, more than 200 in the six months of attacks.

The BBC report, one of the few on southern Lebanon, includes details on how Hezbollah’s war has driven civilians out of southern Lebanon. According to the report, more than 70 civilians have been killed and the conflict has turned “parts of the south into ghost towns. Residents have fled, leaving their homes at risk of destruction. The BBC went on patrol with the UN’s peacekeeping force there to see what has happened.”

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