Smoke rises over a fortified fence deep in the south of Lebanon, as UN peacekeepers and Lebanese Army soldiers watch metres away, between the almost entirely destroyed villages of Houla and Markaba.
“Merkava,” says a Lebanese soldier, his face covered against the bitter isolated cold, referring to a type of Israeli tank. Minutes later in nearby Maiss El Jabal, an explosion from another Israeli attack rips through the air. The soldiers do not flinch.
They are stationed here because the Lebanese military has increased deployments to south Lebanon as the Hezbollah militant group withdraws.
The Israelis normally use the tank to conceal what they are doing at the position, the soldiers say.
What goes on exactly inside the position, one of at least five in south Lebanon that Israel continues to occupy, its flag blowing against the wind, is not always clear.
But under a ceasefire, the Israeli military was supposed to withdraw from Lebanon by January 2025. A year later, it has not done so and, if anything, the bases are being reinforced, with the Israeli military has shown no interest in leaving.
Its soldiers regularly conduct ground raids into Lebanese border villages, destroying homes and occasionally kidnapping or even killing people – while the attacks from above continue daily.
The National also analysed satellite photos of some of the Israeli bases. In Labbouneh, another Israeli position, they clearly show an expansion in the size and fortification of the bases compared to a year ago. They also illustrate the Israeli destruction of Lebanese land surrounding the position.
On the edge of Khiam sits another base at Hamames Hill. Initially, in January 2025, the images appear to show very little. And yet, one year on, the images clearly show that a military base has been built up. About 1.5km from the border, the base on the edge of Khiam is the furthest inside Lebanese territory. These images mirror the pattern at the other bases.
By refusing to withdraw, Lebanon says, Israel is preventing the Lebanese military from completing its mission – as part of the process to disarm Hezbollah – to bring all of south Lebanon under its control.
Residents say drones remain a constant menace given Israeli aerial superiority, although they were absent – at least to the ear – when The National visited the border region because of the wind. “Just because you can't hear them doesn't mean they aren't there,” an LAF soldier said.
Israel claims these positions are necessary for its security. Residents believe the Israelis do not want them to return and are aiming to make the front-line border villages uninhabitable. And it is not just locals who have been harassed and attacked, but Lebanese soldiers and UN peacekeepers, too.
This week the Lebanese government said the Israelis had breached the ceasefire more than 2,000 times in the last quarter of 2025 alone.
In September, Unifil said Israel had fortified the five military positions it built inside Lebanon and continues to hold two buffer zones.
Houla
What life exists in Houla revolves, as far as The National saw when it visited, around two coffee shops and their heaters to protect against the bitter winter.
Some residents did not want to talk on the record, fearful of Israeli retaliation. But they were keen to point to the homes inside Houla that were recently destroyed by raiding Israeli units.
“They come down here every now and then. They come down and blow up houses, for example, luxurious houses,” said Hassan Nasrallah, 32.
“They just do what they want,” he said of the Israelis, who typically carry out their ground raids at night.
It seems inconceivable but if anything the situation on the front line of south Lebanese villages bordering Israel has only deteriorated recently.
It remains bleak, with no reconstruction. Only the occasional vehicle passes through, save for Unifil and the Lebanese Army.
And at least in Houla there were people. The preceding towns of Adaisseh and Kfar Kila were both empty.
The roads are in disrepair and difficult to traverse. Google Maps does not always help because it fails to show some roads.
“There are no [Israelis] on the road right?” The National asked passengers in a rare passing car when taking the road to Houla. Israeli breaches remain constant as do their ground raids further into Lebanese territory.
A senior Lebanese security official said that, at least recently, the Israelis were not expanding the size of the area of the base but were fortifying them.
“But the whole area, this zone, they control it.
“Sometimes with gunfire, sometimes shelling, or even aviation, they control the area.”
Khiam
Khiam, an important south Lebanese hub, has more activity than areas such as Houla, but the Israeli threat remains. Half an hour after The National visited Khiam, the Israelis sprayed the town with machinegun fire.
Khiam was the site of perhaps one of the most intense battles between Hezbollah and Israel of the 66-day war in 2024. Residents speak proudly of the fact that the town was never fully captured by Israel even if those buildings still standing are riddled with bullets. The town is covered with posters marking the death of Hezbollah fighters from Khiam.
Among those who fought in Khiam was the son of Ali Khreiss. He will not reveal his son's name, but wears a pendant with his photo around his neck.
“He is a martyr,” Mr Khreiss says, pointing to the house on the other side of the road where he was killed by a drone strike at the height of the war in early November 2024.
“It was supposed to be that the Israelis would withdraw from the five points and everyone would go back to their homes, their livelihoods, their jobs, everything. Even with all the destruction,” said Mr Khreiss.
“You know how much destruction there was. People stay rooted to their land, and it's still their country, their land, and their honour. But the Israelis didn't, they didn't abide by the agreement, they broke it and stayed in the five points.
Mr Khreiss says parts of Khiam remain off-limits. Stray too close to the Israeli position to the south of the town and you risk getting shot at or bombed.
“And they keep shelling, bombing, blowing up houses, and doing whatever they want. There's no Lebanese government to stop them, no one to hold them back.”
Additional reporting by Fadah Jassem
