As northern Israel comes back to life, Hezbollah strongholds over the border lie in ruins
91st Division commander says Israel must keep acting forcefully against threats from Iran-backed terror group, though war zone is quiet weeks into ceasefire


SOUTHERN LEBANON — The Fatima Gate has witnessed the key chapters in Israel’s involvement in southern Lebanon.
In the 1970s, the border crossing — also known as the Good Fence Crossing — was the focus of Israel’s humanitarian efforts towards its northern neighbor. Israel opened a military health clinic at the gate for residents of southern Lebanon, including Shi’ites. Over time, the effort expanded, as Lebanese traders were allowed to drive into Kiryat Shmona for business, and Lebanese laborers crossed through the gate to reach their jobs in Israeli farms and factories.
When Israel invaded Lebanon to fight Palestinian Liberation Organization terrorists in 1978, and then again in 1982, IDF troops and intelligence officials moved back and forth through the gate. As Israel set up its security zone in southern Lebanon in the ensuing years, fighters from the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and their family members used the crossing to work, shop and receive medical care in Israel.
Unsurprisingly, Fatima Gate was an enticing target for Hezbollah, the fledgling Shi’ite militia Iran had founded to carry out a guerilla war against IDF troops in Lebanon. In 1988, a Hezbollah suicide bomber killed 8 Israeli soldiers in an attack there.
When Israel finally pulled out of southern Lebanon in 2000, panicked SLA troops and their families gathered at Fatima Gate, trying to escape anticipated retribution from Hezbollah. The mile-long stretch of abandoned cars was a potent symbol of Israel’s humiliating retreat under fire from a security zone that had cost the lives of hundreds of soldiers and caused fissures in Israeli society.
After the retreat, Hezbollah supporters would walk right up to the gate to throw rocks at Israeli soldiers on the other side of the border.

In recent weeks, Fatima Gate witnessed a dramatic change. After years of maintaining a defensive posture that allowed Hezbollah fighters to build an extensive network of tunnels, weapons caches and fighting positions along the border, the IDF finally went on the offensive in October. The devastatingly effective operation drove Hezbollah back from the border, as Israeli troops methodically searched the border villages and detonated any building used by Hezbollah for military purposes.
On Sunday, this Times of Israel reporter crossed through Fatima Gate with 91st Division commander Brig. Gen. Shai Klepper to examine what Lebanon’s border villages look like after two months of fighting, and how the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel is holding up.
Empty and quiet
Klepper, too, has participated in seminal moments in the often violent history of Israel-Lebanon relations. He was commander of the elite Sayeret Golani reconnaissance unit in the inconclusive 2006 Second Lebanon War, an experience that evidently left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“There is no comparison between the achievements of 2006 and 2024,” he says. “First of all, the soldiers [in the ongoing war], who came after a year of fighting, with an unwavering fighting spirit. The level of professionalism — our goals were clear. We knew where we were going; we knew how we were operating.”
The 91st Division drives through former Hezbollah strongholds in southern Lebanon, December 15, 2024. (Lazar Berman/Times of Israel)
“You can see it in the accomplishments.” he continued, “The thousands of Hezbollah operatives killed, the infrastructure, the underground network that was blown up, and the weapons that were taken — you can see that we are talking about achievements on an entirely different scale.”
The primary goal of Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah this year — to enable the safe return of the tens of thousands of evacuated residents of northern Israel to their homes — has not yet been accomplished. But signs of life are everywhere along the border with Lebanon, on the Israeli side. Stores are starting to open, streets are no longer empty, and most IDF roadblocks have been packed up.
While the Israeli side of the border slowly dusts itself off after 14 months of shelling, it is hard to imagine any semblance of normal life returning to Lebanese border towns in the coming years.

Just inside Fatima Gate, the Shi’ite village Kafr Kila — a Hezbollah stronghold until October — is flattened. The only structures still standing are those the IDF is using as outposts or command centers. Otherwise, the piles of rebar and concrete on either side of the road barely reach higher than dirt berms pushed up by IDF bulldozers. Rusty electric poles jut out drunkenly from gray mounds.
“Every village that was actually a military village, we dealt with it as they should be dealt with,” said Klepper. “We destroyed the operatives and the infrastructure.”
He made clear that every building that housed a Hezbollah fighter, weapons cache or tunnel was knocked down.

The temperature dropped as Klepper’s convoy climbed out of Kafr Kila to Nabi al-Awadi. The view was breathtaking from the peak. The blue waters of the Mediterranean were visible to the west. The steep cliffs of the Litani River cut through the landscape to the north, with the ruins of the 12th-century Crusader Beaufort Castle perched perilously above the flowing waters far below. In the distance, the Mount Lebanon range was capped in white.
To the east was more evidence of how drastically the Middle East had changed in recent weeks. A massive Israeli flag planted in Lebanese soil fluttered in the stiff wind, set on the backdrop of Mount Hermon, now controlled fully by Israel.
Until the November 27 ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, farmers working the green fields in the Hula Valley between the Hermon and the Naftali mountains would have been risking their lives, as Hezbollah fired dozens, sometimes hundreds of rockets per day.

On Sunday, the scene was almost inconceivably quiet. In an indication the ceasefire is holding up admirably, not a single explosion or gunshot was heard the entire morning The Times of Israel was in Lebanon.
“When the IDF fires, Hezbollah runs away, with directives from above,” said Klepper.
The Lebanese Armed Forces are starting to deploy in large numbers north of Khiam, he said.
But that doesn’t mean Klepper’s division is packing up. His troops are deployed in over 10 locations, ready to push further into Lebanon if the order is given.
“The division’s forces have located and confiscated over 10,000 weapons and military equipment, attacked over 1,000 Hezbollah targets, and destroyed many terrorist structures above and below ground,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Office said Sunday.

“The division’s forces are operating in accordance with the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, while maintaining the terms of the ceasefire. The forces are now deployed in southern Lebanon and are operating against any threat to Israel and its citizens using observation means, fire cover, and additional capabilities to eliminate threats in the sector.”
A community that trades in peace
Druze officers in Klepper’s command cell were paying close attention to the emerging reality over Israel’s borders.
Last week, an unverified video circulating on social media purported to show a member of the Druze community in the southern Syrian village of Hader calling for the community to be annexed to the Israeli side of the Golan Heights.
“They’re not living there,” said Yousef, from Hurfeish in the Galilee. “They know Druze in Israel live well, in all aspects — socially, the respect we receive in Israel, the standard of living compared to them.”

Yousef said he is in touch with his relatives in the Syrian Druze town of Hader, and that the video represents their sentiment.
“We are a community that trades in peace, whether it’s Syria, Lebanon, or any country,” said Haitham, also from Hurfeish.
“Druze in Israel are the best example of how a minority should behave in democratic countries,” he continued. “And we are looking forward to a new era in Syria.”
Flags over the ruins
Klepper led the convoy south on the Marjayoun-Bint Jbeil road on the first ridge west of the border. The hummers bumped over rubble and twisted metal, through Odaisseh, Houla and Meiss El Jabal.

The road went through diverse terrain, representing unique challenges for military forces. The vehicles moved through dense casbahs, open fields, orchards, and steep forested slopes.
The evacuated residents hadn’t tried to hide their Hezbollah affiliation. Tattered yellow-and-green Hezbollah flags hung limply from shattered railings over the street. Signs in Hebrew and Arabic warned against cooperating with Israel.

“We want the south to be the rock on which the Zionist enemy’s aspirations are dashed,” said another sign in Meiss El Jabal, somewhat awkwardly.
Instead, it was in these towns where the 91st Division finally unleashed its firepower after nearly a year of defending the border as other divisions went to work against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The division’s first offensive operation was in Meiss El Jabal, where the 3rd, 8th and 228th brigades surrounded and killed Hezbollah fighters in the village.
Klepper hopes that, even after the ceasefire, Israel continues to operate aggressively against the Iran-backed terror group.
“The IDF can act against threats from Hezbollah,” he told The Times of Israel. “Our spirit is much stronger than theirs. We have to operate with strength. We underestimate our own strength.”
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