Under UNIFIL's nose, Hezbollah turns Lebanon village into terror base

"IDF forces on Tuesday continued operations to expose Hezbollah’s terror infrastructure in Naqoura, a picturesque Shiite village on the Israel-Lebanon border. Located adjacent to a large UNIFIL base in southern Lebanon, the village—home to 5,000 residents before the war—was revealed to contain a trove of armaments.

The site served as a staging ground for Hezbollah’s planned invasion of the Galilee by its elite Radwan forces, including the occupation of Nahariya and nearby communities.

Naqoura has become a stark symbol of the failure to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and tasked UN peacekeepers with ensuring Hezbollah’s forces remained north of the Litani River.

For years, Israeli governments and the IDF failed to prevent what had come to light in recent combat, all along the frontier, from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the mountains in the east.

‘It is impossible to believe that the UN forces did not prevent Hezbollah from amassing so many arms and munitions,’ said Col. (res.) Nir Shimri, whose paratroopers have been operating in the village. What the military found was no less than incredible.

Hezbollah set up one of its largest logistical and strategic hubs on the coastal road leading from the border to Tyre and Sidon. The terror group operated alongside the UNIFIL forces that were there to protect the border and maintain stability but did nothing to stop Hezbollah. It is clearly evident that the international force was complicit in its silence, given the scope of Hezbollah's military might, revealed in Naqoura and dozens of other villages.

‘Nearly every home contained stockpiles of military equipment and fortified positions. These served as auxiliary supplies for Hezbollah,’ Shimri said..."