The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says its troops have found two Hezbollah weapons stockpiles and an apartment used by the group for military purposes close to United Nations posts in southern Lebanon.

The IDF said on Sunday, 8 November, that the three sites were between 100 and 250 metres from positions held by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the peacekeeping mission deployed along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Troops from the IDF's 9th Oded Reserve Brigade Combat Team, operating under the 91st Division, found the two stockpiles in the southern Lebanese border town of Mais al-Jabal. One was inside a civilian home about 200 metres from a UNIFIL post, while the other was inside a storage facility about 100 metres from a UNIFIL post.

Rifles, rockets and a machine gun

The IDF said the two sites together contained Kalashnikov rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and rounds, a PK general-purpose machine gun, fragmentation grenades, an explosive device, ammunition, and communications and surveillance equipment.

The military said the weapons were found alongside humanitarian aid boxes and emblems of Hezbollah and the Amal movement, a Lebanese Shia party allied with Hezbollah.

Separately, the IDF's Kfir Brigade Combat Team found an apartment in the southern Lebanese village of Al Tiri, about 250 metres from a UN post, that the Israeli military said Hezbollah had used for military purposes. Troops found surveillance equipment, combat gear, living supplies and Hezbollah emblems inside, according to the IDF.

Israel accuses UN force of failure

The IDF described the discoveries as further evidence that UNIFIL had failed in its mission. Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, the area between the Blue Line and the Litani River is meant to be free of armed personnel, weapons and assets other than those of the Lebanese government and UNIFIL.

Israel has long accused UNIFIL of failing to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its military presence in southern Lebanon, while the force says its operations are limited by its mandate and by the cooperation of the parties on the ground.

UNIFIL's mandate was extended by Resolution 2790 through 31 December 2026, after which the mission is scheduled to cease operations and begin an orderly withdrawal to be completed within one year.

Ongoing Israeli operations in the south

The discoveries came during operations by the IDF's 91st Division in the security zone it has declared in southern Lebanon, which the military says are intended to remove threats to Israeli communities near the border.

The finds follow other recent Israeli announcements of Hezbollah weapons caches in the area, including more than 340 weapons uncovered by the 188th Brigade in the Beaufort Ridge and Litani River areas, along with an underground shaft about seven metres deep hidden inside a civilian home.

The reports attribute the claims to the IDF, and the weapons finds have not been independently verified. Hezbollah has not publicly responded to the latest announcement.

The discoveries underline how, more than a year after the ceasefire that was meant to push Hezbollah north of the Litani River, weapons and military infrastructure remain in the border zone, keeping southern Lebanon at the centre of the unresolved confrontation between Israel and the Iran-backed group.