Iran-Backed Hezbollah Continues Arms Accumulation And Israeli Border Violence Despite UNIFIL “Intervention”

(New York, N.Y.) — Iran-backed Hezbollah remains in direct conflict with United Nations (UN) Security Council’s Resolution 1701, established in 2006, as the terrorist group procures arms and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, recently called on the UN to condemn Hezbollah and Lebanon’s failure to fully implement 1701 and “stop the illegal and destabilizing activities of Hezbollah, exposing yet again the expansion on Hezbollah’s Radwan forces military compounds and outposts along the Blue line.” Just last week, Hezbollah erected a military post in an area patrolled by United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) situated inside Israeli territory.  

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)’s website, Hezbollah.org, tracks a timeline of Hezbollah’s key military and political milestones, including its acquisition and use of Iranian arms, which has substantially increased since Resolution 1701 went into effect. 

For example, on July 10, 2021, the IDF and Israel Police thwarted an overnight attempt to smuggle weapons from Lebanon into Israel. Officials believe that the over a dozen weapons seized were intended for Hezbollah. On April 26, 2022, IDF forces thwarted weapons smuggling by Hezbollah across the Lebanon border, resulting in Israel seizing assault rifles and around 100 hand grenades. These small arms seizures reflect only a glimpse of the expansive smuggling operation on UNIFIL’s watch.  

Hezbollah’s weapons smuggling operations have significantly intensified since 2021, coinciding with a resurgence of activity among terror groups like Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (AAMB), among others within the Palestinian nationalist movement that receive patronage and support from Iran. These activities align with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) stated goal of arming Palestinian militias in the West Bank in the same manner they have been armed in Gaza. As IRGC Commander-in-Chief Hossein Salami said last year, “When something is homegrown, it cannot be stopped.”  

To read UANI’s timeline of Hezbollah’s milestones, please click here.