South Lebanon on edge as army shifts positions and villages face isolation

Report by Nada Andraos, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian

Repositioning, but not a withdrawal. In southern Lebanon, the situation is shifting, and the military assessment runs deeper than it appears. The Lebanese army is redeploying in a calculated move at a sensitive moment, on terrain open to multiple possibilities.

In the border villages, particularly at advanced points such as Rmeish, Ain Ebel, and Debel, maintaining military units in place poses a clear risk of encirclement. Israeli forces have advanced on the ground, and these villages have effectively become surrounded, now lying behind new lines of contact between Hezbollah and Israel. 

As a result, any supply, even food, any movement, and any reinforcement of the army would effectively fall under Israeli oversight and approval.

The army has therefore decided to reposition north of the encircled border villages, while remaining south of the Litani River but outside the risk of isolation. This repositioning does not mean the army has withdrawn from these villages. 

Inside the villages, there is a limited presence of army personnel in civilian clothing, operating within clinics and carrying out service-related duties. Their presence provides a minimum level of stability, alongside security forces that have remained in place in the villages, supported by residents who have stayed.

This comes amid continued Israeli escalation and a persistent scorched-earth policy. In Debel, around 10 homes were demolished in recent hours. In addition, a farm in the Marj neighborhood on the southern outskirts of the town, facing Aita al-Shaab, was targeted at a location about 6 kilometers from the Blue Line. 

The homes had already been evacuated, with residents displaced within the town. The demolitions appear aimed at opening a route for Israeli forces extending from Aita al-Shaab toward the outskirts of Debel, reaching the valley and continuing toward Serbbine and Kafra.

Between repositioning and escalation, the facts on the ground in southern Lebanon are rapidly changing, taking directions that could shape the region's future and its residents' lives.