The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said Friday that sections of a border wall Israel is constructing on the Lebanese frontier cross the UN-recognized Blue Line, calling the construction a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Work on a border wall to replace Israel’s aging fence with Lebanon began in 2018 but has progressed slowly.

The accusation by UNIFIL came as Israel continues near-daily strikes against Hezbollah terror group operatives in southern Lebanon, amid US and Israeli pressure on Beirut to cut off the terror group’s funding and confiscate its arms.

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

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

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

In early 2023, the IDF ramped up construction of the wall, which then halted with the start of the war on October 7, 2023, with the Hezbollah terror group launching attacks on Israel. Since the November 2024 ceasefire, work has resumed on the border wall, along with the construction of dozens of new army posts on the Israeli side of the border.

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

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

The UNIFIL accusation came a day after Israel struck a Hezbollah weapons depot and adjacent underground site in southern Lebanon, the latest in near-daily Israeli airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in the region, with Israel accusing the Iran-backed terror group of seeking to re-establish itself in violation of the ceasefire deal.

The infrastructure was located next to a public sports and leisure center, “serving as yet another example of Hezbollah’s cynical use of Lebanese civilians as human shields for its operations conducted from within civilian areas,” the military........

© The Times of Israel