How will Israel's yellow line change southern Lebanon?

Destroyed homes, shifting military lines and stalled Israeli withdrawal have left Lebanese residents in limbo over whether to return to their homes.

Ambassador Arjan - Translation from Al Jazeera: Ali is from Khayyam, a village on Lebanon's southern border with Israel, but for the past few months he has been renting a house in Hasbia, about half an hour's drive to the northeast. He is one of the tens of thousands of Lebanese who have left their homes in various villages in the south of the country due to the conflicts.

"The people of the south are experiencing a tragedy," Ali, who did not want his full name to be revealed, told Al Jazeera. "All these are the result of disasters caused by wrong decisions and failed policies."

Despite the framework agreement signed between Lebanon and Israel in June, which aimed to ensure the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, Israel still occupies large parts of the south of the country. Israeli forces have systematically destroyed houses and infrastructure in dozens of villages.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz previously said that the forces of this regime will not leave Lebanon; A statement that reinforces the possibility of continued Israeli occupation. This situation can resemble a long-term occupation that lasted 22 years ago.

yellow line; A hard border for the residents of southern Lebanon

On March 2nd, the Lebanese Shia Hezbollah group fired rockets at Israel for the first time in more than a year. The Iran-backed group announced that the attack was in response to Israel's daily violation of the November 2024 ceasefire, as well as the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, two days before. Khamenei's assassination took place at the beginning of the American-Israeli war against Iran.

In response, Israel escalated its attacks on Lebanon for the second time in less than two years. Israel's attacks and this regime's renewed invasion of southern Lebanon displaced more than 1.2 million people.

After that, the Lebanese government entered into direct negotiations with the Israeli government, which is carried out with the mediation of the United States; Negotiations that have been opposed by Hezbollah. Hezbollah has been involved with Israel since October 2023, and the roots of its formation go back to the 1980s and resistance to Israel's occupation of Lebanon.

Despite these objections, the Lebanese government continued the negotiations and these talks finally led to a framework agreement. One of the provisions of this agreement was the creation of "experimental areas"; The areas where the Israeli forces were supposed to be withdrawn and replaced by the Lebanese army. The Lebanese army was also responsible for disarming Hezbollah forces in these areas.

Currently, Israel occupies an area in the south of Lebanon that extends to a depth of 10 kilometers. Behind the "yellow line" that marks the end of the Israeli-occupied zone, Israeli forces continue to blow up houses. Israel uses the same term "yellow line" to refer to the areas it controls in Gaza.

"Israel's main goal was to evacuate dozens of frontline villages and towns, depopulate them and make them impossible to live in," Mohammad Bazi, a New York-based political analyst originally from Bent Jubeil in southern Lebanon, told Al Jazeera. Now satellite images also show this fact. This was a way to implement the Gaza model in Lebanon."

About 50 frontline villages, including Khayyam and Bint Jubeil, have been destroyed.

Bazi said: "Unlike previous occupations, Israel's goal at this stage has been to evict the residents of these cities and villages, to destroy houses and infrastructure wherever possible, and to make it very difficult, if not impossible, for people to return to their homes."

He added that most of the destruction of the cities occurred from April onwards; That too in a situation where a ceasefire had been announced many times.

Ahmed Bizoun, a Lebanese architect and researcher of open source information sources who lives in the Netherlands, told Al Jazeera: "The yellow line is treated like a hard and impassable border; Both in terms of the presence of military forces and in terms of the controlled destruction of villages, which continues unabated despite the ceasefire. It is as if the ceasefire is in place in the rest of Lebanon, but this area is excluded from it."

North of the yellow line, residents have returned to their destroyed villages. Several cities and villages that are included in the "experimental areas" program are also among these areas.

One of these cities is Farun; where the Israeli army destroyed it with airstrikes and drones, but the ground forces did not enter the city.

Hassan Bazi, head of Farun Municipality office, told Al Jazeera: "We were surprised that Farun was included in the list of experimental areas."

colored lines; From the blue line to the gray line

The yellow line is not the only color line used to mark the military borders in Lebanon. The blue line was determined in 2000 after the end of the long-term occupation of southern Lebanon by Israel; When the Israeli forces retreated from this area and went behind this line.

Now in Israel there are also discussions about creating a "grey line". Reports indicate that this line may extend up to four kilometers inside Lebanon. The area behind the gray line is supposed to remain uninhabited and effectively act as a buffer zone for Israel. According to this plan, Lebanese civilians will not be allowed to rebuild their houses in this area.

Political analyst Mohammad Bazi said: "Part of Israel's strategy in using gray, blue and yellow lines is to create confusion and hide the reality of the actions it has taken in the field; Actions aimed at emptying this vast Lebanese territory of population and making it uninhabitable.

"Ultimately, the definition of these lines doesn't really matter because their position is constantly changing," he added. We have seen an example of this situation in Gaza. The essence of the story is that Israel illegally occupied a large part of southern Lebanon, destroyed it illegally, and started ethnic cleansing. While the world, at least in most cases, has been silent about these events."

However, even in parts of the Israeli-controlled area south of the Yellow Line, a number of villagers still live. This situation is a reflection of Israel's efforts to exploit sectarian divisions in Lebanon.

The majority of southern Lebanon's population is Shia Muslim, but officials from non-Shia areas have said they have been warned not to resettle displaced people in their cities. Even those who are allowed to stay are not completely free.

Ahmed Bizoun explained: "The villages that Israel has allowed to remain inhabited within the Yellow Line are mainly Christian and Sunni. But permission to stay does not mean freedom to live. In Kafr Shuba, municipal employees were kidnapped while pumping water in the village and the mayor himself was arrested. Even in Deir Mimas, a village outside the yellow line, the Lebanese army set up a military position to allow farmers to access their olive groves; But Israeli tanks came to the entrance of the village to counter this action."

Bizoun described the new situation of southern Lebanon as "the westernization of the lives of those who remain"; An expression that refers to the pattern of occupation of the West Bank by Israel.

"Residents are allowed to be on their land, but they cannot use it freely," he said. Access to farms depends on checkpoints, prior arrangements and even the mood of the patrol forces. Municipal officials can be arrested and interrogated whenever they want. This is a model of control that does not necessarily need to depopulate a village in order to dominate it."

long-term displacement; Returning to homes in an aura of uncertainty

Analysts believe that the occupation of southern Lebanon may continue in the foreseeable future. The Lebanese government has promised to build prefabricated houses in some areas, but providing public services such as water, electricity and sewage disposal in areas where infrastructure has been severely damaged or completely destroyed can be difficult for the government.

Even if the Israeli forces retreat, a large part of the border areas will be completely destroyed; Where now, instead of houses and prosperous agricultural lands, piles of dirt, debris and ashes can be seen.

Hassan Bazi said: "In some cities, it may be possible to return by carrying out extensive works, but I don't think it is possible to return to about 50 frontline cities and villages in the short or medium term."

This issue is an open wound for many residents of southern Lebanon. They are forced to continue their lives in other places, while their houses and lands are destroyed and under occupation. From the point of view of these people, Israel's military occupation is changing the face of southern Lebanon for the next generation.

Ali, a displaced man from Khayyam, said: "Khayyam has been destroyed. There is nothing left. It will not be habitable here in the next 10, 15 or even 20 years. "They brought us back to the Stone Age."