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. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has previously said that his country’s troops will not be withdrawn from Lebanon, suggesting an extended occupation similar to the last Israeli occupation, which lasted 22 years.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 the November 2024 ceasefire and 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 than 1.2 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 to detonate homes. Israel uses the same “Yellow Line” term to refer to the areas it controls in Gaza. One of those towns is Froun, which the Israeli military destroyed via air and drone strikes, but which its troops did not enter.
The Yellow Line is not the only coloured line used in Lebanon to reference military demarcations. The Blue Line was established in 2000 in the wake of the end of Israel’s years-long occupation of southern Lebanon, with Israeli forces withdrawing behind it. And there are now discussions in Israel about creating a “Grey Line”.
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