Since November 2023, United Nations peacekeeping forces operating in southern Lebanon have uncovered 225 sites used by Hezbollah to conceal weapons and military equipment, exposing the ongoing threat posed by the Iranian-backed terror group along Israel’s northern frontier. UNIFIL’s systematic discovery followed renewed efforts to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which was established to maintain a buffer zone separating Hezbollah’s arsenal from Israel and ensure that no armed group aside from the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) operate south of the Litani River.
Upon identification and documentation by UNIFIL, all weapons found—ranging from rifles and heavy munitions to rockets, explosives, and communications devices—were officially transferred to the Lebanese Armed Forces. Although this chain of custody aligns with the peacekeeping mandate, concerns persist over Hezbollah’s deep influence within Lebanon’s state institutions and the LAF’s practical ability to enforce arms restrictions on Iranian-backed factions.
The weapon stockpiles illustrate the scope of Hezbollah’s military entrenchment in civilian areas, part of a deliberate strategy to deter Israeli pre-emptive defense and intensify the threat to Israeli communities in the Galilee. Hezbollah’s armory, now believed to exceed 150,000 rockets and missiles, is embedded in villages, schools, medical facilities, and concealed infrastructure, in violation of international law. Israeli defense officials continue to warn that Iranian funding and logistical support enable Hezbollah’s ever-growing capabilities, forming part of a broader effort by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to threaten Israel through its regional proxies and create an Axis of Resistance on Israel’s borders.
The sharp increase in UNIFIL’s weapons finds corresponds with escalations following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel—the deadliest antisemitic terror atrocity since the Holocaust. Since then, Hezbollah has intensified attacks on Israeli civilian and military targets, launching rockets, anti-tank missiles, and drones from Lebanese soil, and drawing Israeli defensive strikes in response. While these hostilities highlight Hezbollah’s destabilizing agenda, they further endanger Lebanese civilians, who are often caught between the terror group’s operations and the risk of Israeli self-defense measures.
The international community, including the United States and European Union, continues to stress the urgency of disarming Hezbollah and upholding Lebanon’s sovereignty under Resolution 1701. However, the group’s dominance over Lebanon’s political and security institutions has prevented the LAF and UNIFIL from achieving full compliance. Lebanese residents in the south remain under constant threat, not only from regional conflict but from the persistent violation of their communities by Hezbollah’s armament and militarization.
Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, affirm that Israel will defend its citizens from any armed threat emanating from Lebanon, and warn that continued terror build-up by Hezbollah will be met with forceful and decisive action to prevent another major conflict.
The discovery of these 225 weapons facilities represents both a revealing snapshot of Iran’s destabilizing agenda through its proxies and an urgent call to the international community. As long as Hezbollah maintains its parallel military infrastructure in Lebanon, and Iranian arms flow unabated, the risk of wider war and the suffering of innocents on both sides will persist. Regional stability, Israeli self-defense, and Lebanese sovereignty all remain at stake amid the unchecked activities of Iran-backed terror networks along the Israel-Lebanon border.
