Unifil patrols in southern Lebanon amid rising Israeli ceasefire violations

The National spent a day with Ghanaian peacekeepers who have resumed patrols along the Israel-Lebanon border amid a precarious truce

Maj Edward Akakpo looked up at the sky as a black Israeli drone flew over the UN peacekeeper base near the village of Ramyah in southern Lebanon.

“They send those whenever there are new visitors,” he said jokingly.

The presence of the drone, which quickly moved away in a flawless straight line, was yet another Israeli violation of Lebanese airspace. “It’s being reported right now as we speak,” Maj Akakpo said. This is far from an isolated incident – members of the 10,000-strong UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) soldiers posted in southern Lebanon have become used to them.

The Ghanaian battalion, made of 865 soldiers who patrol the western part of the border area, has documented many Israeli violations of the US-brokered ceasefire agreed between Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israel in November to end 14 months of conflict, including two months of intensive Israeli bombardment. These include Israeli tanks entering Lebanese territory, drones hovering in the skies and sporadic air strikes.

Earlier this month, the Ghanaian peacekeepers helped to rescue a shepherd who was injured in an Israeli drone strike that killed 13 of his sheep. Maj Akakpo said there was no explanation for the strike’s target. He added that his battalion has not recorded Lebanese violations in his area of operations, which would include, for instance, Hezbollah weapons caches.

Unifil, which has been posted in southern Lebanon since 2006 following a truce that ended a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah, has been tasked with monitoring violations from both sides of the border. The National joined the Ghanaian Unifil battalion on Wednesday as it carried its routine activities, which had been disrupted during the recent conflict.

A firefighter douses flames on a car hit by an Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese village of Burj Al Muluk on March 15. AFP

Despite the truce, the situation at the border remains unstable. “This situation is not calm,” said another officer of the Ghanaian contingent, Maj Amidu, speaking to The National its base, UNP 4-42, which is less than 50 metres from the border and directly opposite an Israeli military position. “The whole unit is level 2 and some random firing and shelling, it’s unpredictable for now,” he added. Level 3 is the highest level of alert, when soldiers have to shelter in bunkers.

Unifil representative Andrea Tenenti told The National that since November peacekeepers have recorded more than 1,600 air violations and more than 600 rocket or missile trajectories from Israel, as well as about two dozen air strikes within their area of operations, which extends from the Blue Line – the UN-delineated border between Lebanon and Israel – to the Litani River, about 30km from the border.

Peacekeepers have also reported more than 1,000 Israeli ground activities, such as Israeli tanks crossing the border.

Unifil also found Hezbollah weapons caches and rocket launchers almost on a daily basis, he said.

On Saturday, the fragile state of the ceasefire agreement was once again highlighted when an unknown armed faction fired three rockets into Israel. Israel retaliated with more than a dozen strikes in south Lebanon, killing at least seven people – its most intense attacks since the November ceasefire. Hezbollah denied any involvement.

The peacekeeping force holds regular meetings with the ceasefire monitoring committee, which is led by the US and includes France, the Israeli military and the Lebanese army. Mr Tenenti said Unifil reports violations of UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 conflict, not the latest truce on which it is based.

Israel and Lebanon accuse each other of violating the ceasefire. Israel says that Hezbollah still maintains infrastructure in the south, while Lebanese authorities have reported hundreds of Israeli violations that have claimed dozens of lives. Lebanon has also denounced Israel's decision not to remove its troops from five hilltop positions that it has occupied since a ground invasion in October.

Smoke rises from Jabal Al Rihan following Israeli air strikes on Lebanon in response to cross-border rocket fire on March 22. Reuters

Bunkers, crossfire and destruction

Because of its proximity to the Israeli border, the UNP 4-42 base was frequently caught in the crossfire during the war and “suffered a lot”, Maj Amidu said.

But the peacekeepers remained there despite the risk, sometimes spending days in their bunkers when the shelling intensified. Maj Amidu said they were in the bunkers when two Israeli tanks destroyed the main gate and entered the base in October.

According to Unifil, the Israeli soldiers insisted that the base turn out its lights, but left after 45 minutes when it lodged a protest. At the start of the escalation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the UN to remove its peacekeepers from Lebanon, accusing them of providing Hezbollah with human shields.

Maj Akakpo shows some of the damage done to the base hospital after it was his by a rocket during the war. Neither side claimed responsibility for the attack. Matt Kynaston for The National.

A month later, the base was hit, injuring four Ghanaian peacekeepers, some seriously. “We can’t tell if it was intended or not, but the suspicion is that the target was the Israeli base next to us,” Maj Amidu said. Unifil said that the base was probably fired upon by a “non-state actors within Lebanon”.

Despite the ceasefire, border towns have yet to return to normality: destruction is everywhere, roads are barely passable, and water and electricity supplies remain cut off. Residents have not returned to the villages neighbouring the UNP 4-42 base.

“There is no human activity within the area of responsibility,” Maj Amidu said.

With the Israeli military still holding positions inside Lebanon, Mr Tenenti told reporters on Wednesday that Israel needed to withdraw from the area it currently occupies and for “the Lebanese army to fully redeploy there”.

One of these positions is near another Ghanaian battalion base close to the town of Marwahin. The peacekeepers said they observed Israeli troops moving fortifications and defensive concrete to the position after Israel began launching intense air strikes across Lebanon in late September. They said the position was formerly occupied by the Lebanese Army.

“We're not allowed to go near there; it's hard to tell if they built something temporary or not,” Maj Amidu said.