UNIFIL says parts of Israel’s Lebanon border wall crossed Blue Line

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon says that recent surveys it conducted revealed that sections of Israel’s border wall had crossed the UN-recognized Blue Line.

According to UNIFIL, in October, its observers “conducted a geospatial survey of a concrete T-wall erected by the Israel Defense Forces southwest of Yaroun,” which confirmed that the wall “crossed the Blue Line, rendering more than 4,000 square meters of Lebanese territory inaccessible to the Lebanese people.”

UNIFIL says it informed the IDF of the findings and requested that it move the wall.

This month, UNIFIL says its observers “observed additional T-wall construction in the area.”

“A survey confirmed that a section of wall southeast of Yaroun also crossed the Blue Line. We will formally inform the IDF of our findings here as well,” the observer force says.

UNIFIL says that “Israeli presence and construction in Lebanese territory are violations of Security Council resolution 1701 and of Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“We again call on the IDF to respect the Blue Line in its full length and withdraw from all areas north of it,” it says, as the military still maintains five positions inside southern Lebanon following the November 2024 ceasefire that ended fighting with Hezbollah.

A new wall that is being constructed between Aitaroun and Maroun al-Ras is on the Israeli side of the Blue Line, UNIFIL adds.