Smoke rises over a fortified fence deep in the south of Lebanon, as UN peacekeepers and Lebanese Army soldiers watch metres away, between the almost entirely destroyed villages of Houla and Markaba.
“Merkava,” says a Lebanese soldier, his face covered against the bitter isolated cold, referring to a type of Israeli tank. Minutes later in nearby Maiss El Jabal, an explosion from another Israeli attack rips through the air. The soldiers do not flinch.
They are stationed here because the Lebanese military has increased deployments to south Lebanon as the Hezbollah militant group withdraws.
The Israelis normally use the tank to conceal what they are doing at the position, the soldiers say.
What goes on exactly inside the position, one of at least five in south Lebanon that Israel continues to occupy, its flag blowing against the wind, is not always clear.
But under a ceasefire, the Israeli military was supposed to withdraw from Lebanon by January 2025.
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