A relatively small river has become a focal point in a widening regional confrontation: the 145-kilometer (90-mile) Litani River in Lebanon now roughly traces the front lines between Hezbollah and Israel.
The situation also underscores strains on international law and peacekeeping. The long-running UN force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, which has patrolled the border area since 1978, faces the end of its mandate at the close of 2026 amid funding cuts and diplomatic pressure.
Evacuations and combat
Iran-backed Hezbollah has been fighting Israeli forces as part of a broader US-Israel confrontation with Iran. Several countries, including the United States and Germany, classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
In early March, Hezbollah launched multiple drone and rocket strikes on Israel. The group said those attacks were retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, following US and Israeli airstrikes against Iran at the end of February. 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 River for safety.
The Israeli military says it has destroyed numerous bridges to sever Hezbollah’s supply lines and has repeatedly framed its operations as efforts to stop rockets and drones aimed at Israel’s north.
Talk of redrawing the border
On March 24, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared Israeli forces would “control the remaining bridges and the security zone up to the Litani.” The river runs about 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of Israel’s international border. Katz posted in Hebrew on X that areas from which “terror and rockets” are launched should not contain homes or residents, a reference to Hezbollah positions.
Katz also said the IDF was ordered to “accelerate the destruction of Lebanese homes in border villages to ward off threats to Israeli settlements — following the model of Beit Hanoun and Rafah in Gaza,” locations that have seen heavy Israeli operations.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich went further, telling The Times of Israel that “The Litani must be our new border with the state of Lebanon.” An analysis by the International Crisis Group said Israeli officials have hinted at plans to seize at least the 30-kilometer-deep strip north of the border once they get a full green light. According to that analysis, Israel has so far restrained a broader ground offensive partly to avoid alienating the Trump administration, which prefers Israel to remain focused on countering Iran rather than becoming bogged down in Lebanon.
Historical background
The Litani has long been strategically significant in Israeli-Lebanese conflicts. In March 1978, Israel launched Operation Litani, sending about 25,000 troops into southern Lebanon and occupying territory south of the river. Estimates put the death toll at between 1,000 and 2,000, and the Lebanese government estimated nearly 280,000 people—mostly Shiites—were displaced at the time, though many later returned.
That 1978 invasion was launched after a Fatah attack on March 11, 1978, in which gunmen struck a coastal road in northern Israel, killing 37 and wounding 76. At that time, Fatah operated primarily as an armed wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization and used southern Lebanon as a base for strikes into Israel.
The 1978 offensive prompted the UN Security Council to create UNIFIL the same month, with a mandate to help establish a buffer zone between the Litani and the Israeli border. After the 2006 Lebanon war, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 expanded UNIFIL’s mandate and called for Hezbollah forces to withdraw north of the Litani. Israel and the United States have repeatedly accused UNIFIL of not doing enough to push Hezbollah back.
Funding cuts and the future of UNIFIL
Severe reductions in US funding for the UN and humanitarian aid in 2025 fed into diminishing contributions to UNIFIL. Combined with diplomatic pressure from the US and Israel, the result was the Security Council’s decision not to extend the mission beyond its current term, leaving UNIFIL due to end at the end of 2026.
Many Lebanese fear that the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers will trigger new displacements and could open the way for a shift in the de facto border. In their place, Israeli forces could move to control a security zone up to the Litani, in line with recent statements by Israeli officials advocating an expanded buffer.
This article was originally written in German.