A relatively small river — the 145-kilometer (90-mile) Litani — has become the de facto front line in a widening regional confrontation, with much of the fighting and displacement concentrated along its course in southern Lebanon.
Fighting and displacement
Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been exchanging strikes as part of a broader confrontation involving the United States, Israel and Iran. In early March, Hezbollah launched drone and rocket attacks on Israel, which the group said were retaliation for the killing of an Iranian leader after late-February airstrikes on Iran. Israel responded with air raids on Lebanese territory. Lebanese health authorities report nearly 2,000 dead and roughly 1.2 million people displaced by the fighting. Israeli commanders have urged civilians in southern Lebanon to move to areas north of the Litani for safety.
The Israeli military says it has deliberately destroyed bridges to choke Hezbollah’s supply lines and framed its operations as efforts to stop rockets and drones targeting northern Israel.
Talk of redrawing the line
Senior Israeli officials have publicly signaled a desire to push their control up to the Litani. In late March, Defense Minister Israel Katz said forces would take control of bridges and a security zone up to the river, arguing that areas used to launch attacks should not contain civilian homes. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich went further, saying the Litani should become Israel’s new boundary with Lebanon. Analysts at the International Crisis Group say some Israeli officials are contemplating seizing at least a roughly 30-kilometre-deep strip north of Israel’s border if they receive full political approval, while also noting Israeli restraint at times to avoid broader diplomatic fallout.
Historical context
The Litani has long been strategically important. In March 1978, Israel launched Operation Litani, deploying about 25,000 troops into southern Lebanon and occupying territory south of the river. Contemporary estimates put the death toll from that offensive between 1,000 and 2,000, and the Lebanese government at the time estimated nearly 280,000 people—mostly Shiites—were displaced, though many later returned. The 1978 invasion followed a Fatah attack inside northern Israel on March 11, 1978, which helped precipitate the incursion.
That first invasion led the UN Security Council to create the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in March 1978, with a mandate to help establish a buffer between the Litani and Israel. After the 2006 Lebanon war, Resolution 1701 expanded UNIFIL’s responsibilities and called for Hezbollah to withdraw north of the Litani. Israel and its allies, particularly the United States, have repeatedly criticized UNIFIL for not doing enough to prevent Hezbollah from operating near the border.
The end of a long-standing mission
UNIFIL has patrolled southern Lebanon for decades, but recent funding cuts and diplomatic pressure have weakened the mission. Severe reductions in US funding for UN and humanitarian programs in 2025 contributed to dwindling contributions to UNIFIL. Combined political pressure from the US and Israel, the Security Council decided not to extend UNIFIL beyond its current mandate, leaving the force scheduled to end at the close of 2026.
Many Lebanese worry that the withdrawal of peacekeepers will trigger new waves of displacement and make it easier for a new de facto border to emerge. In that scenario, Israeli forces could move to establish a formal security zone up to the Litani, echoing rhetoric from some Israeli officials who argue for expanded control as a means of stopping attacks from southern Lebanon.
The Litani has become more than a river: it’s a strategic and symbolic line around which military tactics, international law and humanitarian concerns are now converging. Originally published in German.