Hezbollah Attempts to Reestablish Presence in Southern Lebanon

Meanwhile, alongside Hezbollah’s ongoing activities, Lebanon’s official authorities are also calling for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from five locations still held by the IDF in the country’s south. Their demands also include a halt to airstrikes and the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel. Hezbollah would likely be pressing these same demands through far less diplomatic means, were its standing in the country stronger. For now, residents of southern Lebanese villages, many of them from Hezbollah strongholds, are gradually returning to their homes, resuming daily life, and awaiting aid and reconstruction. 

Hezbollah’s 'Association' and the Kidnapped Fisherman 

Israel continues to monitor Hezbollah’s activities in Lebanon, and the ongoing airstrikes reflect the sustained military pressure. On Wednesday, Lebanese media reported that Israel distributed leaflets threatening a senior Hezbollah figure residing in the village of Yaroun, Mohammad Abbas Shahin. The message warned Shahin that he was under aerial and ground surveillance and urged him, “for his own sake and for the sake of the residents of Yaroun,” not to cooperate with the association Wa A’inu Ala al-Birr—a Hezbollah-linked civilian group that allows the organization to operate under the guise of social aid. 

This group has donated portable structures to several villages in southern Lebanon, many of which have been targeted by the IDF in recent months. Israel’s precision strikes against Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure have reinforced suspicions that the association serves as a civilian cover for military activity, similar to the previously exposed Hezbollah-affiliated organization “Green Without Borders.” 

On May 17, a security source told the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, that Israel had struck all of the prefab structures in towns along the western sector of the border. 

The Alma Research and Education Center, which studies security developments in northern Israel, published a report in April detailing Hezbollah’s use of Wa A’inu Ala al-Birr. The report stated: “The association’s charitable and social aid activities are part of Hezbollah’s broader influence strategy.” It also noted that “the campaign to deploy mobile structures along the contact line is part of Hezbollah’s renewed military footprint in southern Lebanon.” According to the report, the association’s financial ties to Hezbollah and Iran are explicit, and its director, Afif Shuman, appears to be exploiting its financial resources for personal enrichment at the expense of Hezbollah’s Shiite base. 

The center further noted that Hezbollah’s tactic is clear: flood the contact line with identical portable structures. While some of the structures may indeed be used by civilians and farmers, others—especially those placed in locations designated by Hezbollah as operationally strategic—are expected to become terrorist outposts staffed by terrorists. 

At the same time, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV reported that “four Israeli boats crossed the buoy line and abducted a fisherman from his boat off the coast of Ras al-Naqoura.” According to Al-Akhbar, contact was lost with the fisherman, identified as Ali Fneish, after Israeli vessels surrounded two fishing boats approximately four kilometers into Lebanon’s territorial waters near Ras al-Naqoura. 

The IDF has yet to respond to the Lebanese reports of the alleged “abduction.”