Hezbollah members hold flags marking Resistance and Liberation Day, in Kfar Kila near the border with Israel, southern Lebanon, May 25, 2021. Reuters/Aziz Taher

JNS.org – Hezbollah has recently constructed 15 outposts on the Lebanon-Israel border, Israeli media reported on Friday.

Most of the outposts are along the western section of the border, with each such site containing an outlook position or tower, two to three housing units and storage facilities, according to Channel 12.

“We see a clear statement of intent by Hezbollah,” the report quoted a senior Israel Defense Forces Northern Command source as saying. “The problem is that as soon as Hezbollah builds a post like this, the Lebanese army and UNIFIL [the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon] no longer arrive [in the area where the post has been built],” the source added.

Hezbollah operatives wander around in the vicinity, some armed with handguns and rifles, constituting a “significant violation of United Nations Resolution 1701, which was passed at the end of the Second Lebanon War [2006] and is aimed at preventing the presence of any armed organization except the Lebanese Army in the border area,” the report said.

On June 9, the IDF said that Hezbollah has established an intelligence-gathering outpost on the Israel-Lebanon border disguised as an environmental protection facility.

IDF Arabic-language spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee posted images on Twitter showing what he said were Hezbollah members at the post.

The IDF has revealed in the past that Hezbollah uses the cover of “Green Without Borders,” a Lebanese NGO that claims to be dedicated to environmental goals, to maintain a presence near the border.

According to Kan News, the head of the IDF’s Northern Command Maj. Gen. Amir Bara’am said, “Recently, there has been an increase in the construction of Hezbollah forward bases on the border. We are familiar with them, we know their names and where they come from. When the day comes, they will pay the price, them and those who send them, and the [Lebanese] border villages that they use as terror-military bases. We will destroy the entire line of engagement infrastructure.”