EL MERI (AFP) — In a wooded valley close to the Israeli border, United Nations peacekeepers showed Agence France-Presse journalists a Hezbollah bunker they had uncovered in southern Lebanon, a former bastion of the militant group.
“This morning we conducted a recce in this valley that we identified as... of valuable interest” because it was hit by the Israeli military during the conflict, said Captain Tanguy, commander of the French reconnaissance and intervention troops, on Wednesday.
The site, on the outskirts of the village of Meri, was hidden among trees and accessible only on foot via a rough mountain path.
Green boxes filled with shells were scattered on the ground, while others were inside a storeroom that appeared to have been bombed.
“Inside the bunker we found an artillery cannon of 152 mm caliber. It’s Russian-made. It was facing eastward and southward,” Tanguy said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council voted on Thursday to end the mission of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in 2027, with the peacekeeping force facing United States and Israeli opposition.
The peacekeepers, first deployed in 1978, have recently been working with the Lebanese army to enforce a November ceasefire that followed more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Lebanese group was badly weakened and, as part of the ceasefire deal, is required to withdraw from south Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s army said two personnel were killed Thursday after an Israeli drone that had crashed in the country’s south exploded, the latest deadly incident for Lebanese troops near the Israeli border.
Under a November ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities including two months of open war between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s army has been deploying in the country’s south and dismantling the Iran-backed group’s infrastructure there with the support of UNIFIL.