A visit to Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh suggests the Lebanese Armed Forces may not be adequately controlling access to areas transferred from Israeli military control.
The Lebanese Armed Forces transferred Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh from Israeli to Lebanese military control in July as part of a pilot programme. The town is meant to test the LAF's ability to prevent Hezbollah from reasserting military control in areas where Israeli forces have withdrawn.
At the LAF's main checkpoint outside the town, soldiers waved through a vehicle without conducting identification checks or inspections. The checkpoint had no designated inspection area or visible infrastructure associated with a functioning control point.
Two vehicles passed through the checkpoint ahead without identification checks. An LAF officer later stopped the same vehicle inside the town and told the occupants they could only enter between 10 a.m. and noon, then instructed them to remove visible journalist markings and return as civilians, effectively circumventing the restriction by concealing their status.
An LAF intelligence source told The Beirut Journal that the LAF does not use the term "pilot zones" in official statements. The source said the LAF considers its primary role in these areas to be clearing unexploded ordnance, removing rubble and assisting residents, rather than disarming Hezbollah.
A local source from Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh confirmed that the town has not seen cases of the Lebanese army dismantling weapons depots or dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure since being cleared. The source identified a large number of military-aged men in the town centre as Hezbollah members and identified a Hezbollah-run NGO operating in the area, where an Israeli drone was visible overhead while an LAF bulldozer operated nearby.
