How Israel’s ‘Yellow Line’ is reshaping southern Lebanon

Demolished homes, shifting military lines, stalled withdrawals leave Lebanese uncertain if they can return. Save Share Beirut, Lebanon –Ali is from Khiam, a Lebanese village on the southern border with Israel, but for the last few months he has rented a house in Hasbaiyya, about a half-hour drive away to the northeast. He is one of tens of thousands of Lebanese who have been displaced from their homes in villages throughout the south of the country. “Southerners are living a tragedy,” Ali, who did not wish to give his full name, told Al Jazeera. “This is all from flawed tragedies and failed politics.” Despite a framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel signed in June – with the objective of securing Israel’s phased withdrawal from Lebanon – Israel has continued to occupy large parts of its neighbour’s south, where it hassystematically demolishedhomes and infrastructure in dozens of villages. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has previously said that his country’s troops will not be withdrawn from Lebanon, suggesting an extended occupation similar to the last Israeli occupation, which lasted 22 years. The Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2, for the first time in more than a year. The Iranian-backed group said the attack was a response to daily Israeli violations of theNovember 2024 ceasefireand the assassination two days prior of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Israel responded by intensifying its war on Lebanon for a second time in under two years. Israeli attacks, as well as its reinvasion of southern Lebanon, displaced more than1.2 million people. Since then, Beirut has entered into US-brokered direct negotiations with the Israeli government, despite the objections of Hezbollah, which has fought Israel since October 2023. The group traces its origins in the 1980s to resistance against Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory. Yet the Lebanese government continued with the discussions, which eventually resulted in the framework agreement. One element of the agreement was the establishment of “pilot zones”, from which Israel would withdraw and be replaced by the Lebanese Armed Forces, who would then disarm any Hezbollah forces in the area. Israel currently occupies a zone stretching up to 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) deep into southern Lebanon. Behind the “Yellow Line” that marks the end of that occupation zone, Israel continues todetonate homes....