Above: “Green Without Borders” association’s flag
Much has recently been published regarding Hezbollah’s “Green Without Borders” association. Hezbollah portrayed the organization as a Lebanese society involved in nature conservation. Israel has revealed that, in fact, it is an association whose stated function is fictitious. It serves as a cover for an operational-intelligence operation whose purpose is to create a front line against Israel and engage in ongoing and dedicated intelligence collection.
Since April 2022, it is possible to identify 20 positions along the border with Lebanon, from Rosh Hanikra in the west to Mount Dov in the east, with the association’s flag hoisted on all of them. Some positions are very close to the borderline.
Above: Hezbollah’s position in the area of the Lebanese village of Ramyeh near the point where Hezbollah operatives abducted the Israeli soldiers in July 2006, a hostile act that led to the Second Lebanon War. The post is near the Israeli community of Zar’it (you can see a Hezbollah operative with binoculars on the right and the association’s flag hoisted atop the white structure).
Above: Hezbollah’s position in the area of the Lebanese village of Ramyeh, located between the Israeli communities of Zar’it and Shtula.
Above: Hezbollah’s position in the area of the Lebanese village of Ayta ash Shab, located east of the Israeli community of Netu’a.
Above: A Hezbollah position in the area of the Lebanese village of Yaroun, located near the Israeli community of Bar’am.
Who are the association’s activists manning these positions? Does the “Green Without Borders” association have any activists at all?
The “Green Without Borders” association has no activists manning the “environmental protection stations.” In practice, armed Hezbollah operatives from Hezbollah’s regular military units and special units man these positions 24 hours a day, under the fictitious cover of the association:
- Operatives of the “Nasser” unit, which operates in the western geographic sector, from the border with Israel to the Litani River.
- Operatives of the “Aziz” unit, which operates in the eastern sector, from the border with Israel in the south to the western Beqaa area in the north.
- Operatives of the special units, headed by operatives of the “Radwan” unit – Hezbollah’s elite unit, whose main mission is to infiltrate into Israel and take over Israeli territory and settlements in the Galilee.
Hezbollah’s entrenchment on the line of contact near the border. After the IDF’s withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000 and until the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Hezbollah was entrenched on the Lebanese- Israel border in military outposts with overt military features (uniforms and weapons). During the war, these outposts were destroyed. After the war, Hezbollah withdrew from the line of contact near the border, fortifying itself in and around the villages near the border.
Since 2017, Hezbollah began to return to the line of contact adjacent to the border, establishing a very small number of positions outside the villages under the fictitious cover of the “Green Without Borders” association.
In the past two years, Hezbollah has shown a clear trend to increase the number of positions along the border, increase the number of operatives, and deploy new operatives. This is a deliberate operational consideration of Hezbollah. Hezbollah is interested in improving its intelligence-gathering capabilities and operational readiness to respond to or initiate an incident. Hezbollah also uses the Lebanese army’s observation towers (on patrol along the border, they can be distinguished by their black color), which are not routinely manned.
Are Hezbollah officials aware of the non-operational behavior of the operatives manning the positions near the border? Many of these activists are just bored most of the time. To pass their time, they take independent local initiatives. Some approach the border fence, throw stones, physically damage it, and even shout, swear, and make threatening signs with their hands. We are not sure that the commanders of the Nasser, Aziz, and Radwan units will be happy to hear this…
Significant deterioration of UN security council resolution 1701. These Hezbollah military operatives are usually armed with pistols and sometimes rifles, which they try to hide. Some are dressed in partial military uniforms (usually military trousers with a civilian shirt). Hezbollah “declares” the area near the posts as a closed military zone, which the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL are not allowed to approach. Recently, when a Lebanese military force tried to approach one of the positions, it was stopped a few hundred meters from the post by Hezbollah operatives. Sometimes Hezbollah physically closes the area with a fence and a gate.
Symbolically, at the point where the Israeli soldiers were abducted in July 2006, near the “Green Without Borders” post, a Hezbollah flag hangs on the barrel set by the UN, marking the blue line – the border between Israel and Lebanon.
Above: Hezbollah flag on the blue UN barrel marking the border at the abduction point.
We are facing the renewal of the UNIFIL mandate at the end of August. In light of the reality on the ground in which “shame is dead,” and Hezbollah does not even make an effort to hide its military presence in south Lebanon, it is worth examining the validity of Resolution 1701, which ended the previous conflict between Israel and Lebanon in 2006. Is it appropriate to maintain a huge UN force of 10,000 soldiers? A force that has stopped trying to prevent Hezbollah’s military deployment in the border area and is not contributing to changing the security reality on the ground, and in fact – even unintentionally – is helping hide Hezbollah’s activity from the world.
The use of UNIFIL as a “fig leaf” for the non-existent arrangement between Israel and Lebanon is harmful and dangerous not only for Israel but also for Lebanon, a situation that has been demonstrated in recent friction between the residents of south Lebanon and Hezbollah, as displayed in the village of Ramish on July 29.
*The photos were taken by the Alma Center team. The video was taken by the IDF observations.
