The peaks of Mount Hermon have shifted from being a mere scenic backdrop to a stage for military maneuvering that reflects a transformation in the nature of the confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah. These summits, long associated with tourism and tranquility, now lie at the heart of military calculations aimed at redrawing the rules of engagement in northern Israel and southern Lebanon.
In a notable development, the Israeli army announced that it had carried out a cross-border operation launched from the slopes of Mount Hermon via the Syrian side, reaching the Mount Dov area, also known as Shebaa Farms, inside Lebanese territory. According to an army statement, the operation was conducted by elite forces known as the “Alpine Unit.” It aimed to “sweep the area and prevent the entrenchment of terrorist organizations, in addition to gathering intelligence and uncovering military infrastructure.”
This operation appears to open the door to a new phase of confrontation, raising questions about whether Israel is moving to expand the theater of operations to include Lebanon’s eastern front, rather than limiting it to the traditional southern front.
A New Military Tactic
The Mount Hermon operation coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement of expanding the “buffer zone” northward, alongside ground operations in southern Lebanon.
This move reflects an Israeli tendency to adopt a strategy “based on maneuvering through rugged mountainous terrain, rather than focusing exclusively on the southern front,” according to military and strategic expert retired Brigadier General Saeed Al-Qazah.
“The use of Mount Hermon as a launch base into Lebanese territory, particularly toward the western Bekaa, allows Israeli forces to separate the Arqoub and Shebaa Farms areas from their natural extension in the Bekaa, effectively isolating the south militarily.”
Al-Qazah added in an interview with Alhurra that this approach “aims to encircle Hezbollah and exert pressure on it in non-traditional areas, thereby reducing its freedom of movement and disrupting its field deployment.”
Political analyst Dr. Khaled Al-Hajj explained that Israel’s operational focus is currently centered on the northern side of Mount Hermon, overlooking Rashaya al-Wadi in Lebanon’s Bekaa province.
In remarks to Alhurra, Al-Hajj noted that Israeli warnings issued to villages in the western Bekaa—such as Labaaya, Sohmor, and Yahmor—are “directly linked to this new operational track, which enables faster and more effective operations, bypassing traditional southern routes, while also imposing a de facto buffer line that limits Hezbollah’s ability to connect the south with the Bekaa.”
A Strategic Advantage Point
Mount Hermon, according to UNESCO, is located in the southern Bekaa on the border between Syria and Lebanon and can be accessed from Rashaya, considered one of Lebanon’s most beautiful towns, where the Citadel of Independence and old markets date back to the 17th century. Part of the mountain lies within the Golan Heights.
Mount Hermon, also known as Jabal al-Sheikh, sits at a highly sensitive geographic intersection between Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, making it one of the most prominent strategic locations in the region. The mountain consists of four peaks, the highest reaching approximately 2,814 meters, providing a wide vantage point over vast surrounding areas.
These geographical characteristics grant whoever controls the mountain exceptional superiority, both in surveillance and fire control. Al-Qazah believes that the mountain’s importance “lies in its ability to provide broad intelligence oversight, whether through technical means or direct visual monitoring.”
He added that control over these heights “gives Israel a significant capability to monitor movements across large parts of the Bekaa and southern Lebanon, making any Hezbollah military activity more exposed to detection and targeting.”
For his part, Al-Hajj stated that control of Mount Hermon “grants Israeli forces considerable mobility in areas such as Kfarchouba and Shebaa,” noting that it serves as “a field key to controlling the geography of the western Bekaa, which is one of Hezbollah’s main logistical support routes, in addition to being a rear base for part of its military capabilities, including rocket-launching platforms.”
Al-Hajj added that this advantage is not limited to the western Bekaa but extends to the central and northern Bekaa, enhancing the ability to influence the overall battlefield landscape in eastern Lebanon.
A Memory of Unrelenting Conflict
The mountain has long been a strategic anchor point at the heart of the Arab–Israeli conflict.
During the June 1967 war, Israel secured control over the mountain, establishing advanced observation posts. In the October 1973 war, Syrian forces managed to retake control briefly before Israel regained its hold.
Post-war arrangements led to the signing of the 1974 disengagement agreement, which provided for the establishment of a buffer zone supervised by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), helping contain tensions and regulate the pace of confrontation for decades.
However, recent regional developments have reshuffled the landscape. The fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024 led to notable military and political shifts. In this context, Israel announced its withdrawal from the disengagement agreement and reasserted control over Mount Hermon and the buffer zone, describing the move as a “historic moment.”
In light of these changes, Al-Qazah believes that the eastern border, which for decades served as a strategic depth for Hezbollah, has become more complex, directly affecting its field reality.
He noted that the group is facing what resembles a “double siege, between continuous Israeli pressure from the south and a shifting security environment from the east, which has limited its flexibility in moving between the Bekaa and the south, making supply lines and mobility more vulnerable to risk.”
On the logistical level, he pointed to “a decline in the effectiveness of land supply routes that once connected the group to Iran via Syria and Iraq, amid Israeli surveillance, tightened border controls, and the destruction of a number of tunnels by Syria, pushing it to rely more heavily on internal stockpiles as a temporary alternative.”
Geography Shapes the Rules of Engagement
Amid these dynamics, Mount Hermon emerges as a strategic turning point, becoming a decisive factor in shaping the trajectory of any potential confrontation in the coming phase.
According to Al-Qazah’s estimates, the idea of a “buffer zone is no longer confined south of the Litani River; it is likely to extend northward to include parts of the western Bekaa, particularly the towns overlooked by Mount Hermon, in an effort to reduce the threat of short- and medium-range rockets.”
Conversely, Al-Qazah pointed to the possibility that Hezbollah may resort to counter field tactics, “including infiltration operations through rugged terrain to target Israeli positions from the rear, particularly along the axis from the western Bekaa toward Kfarchouba,” while emphasizing that such scenarios carry high risks given the intelligence and operational superiority provided by control of Mount Hermon.
He concluded that developments on the ground “compel the group to readjust its logistical and military approach amid increasing complexities that affect its ability to manage a long-term confrontation under current conditions.”
For his part, Al-Hajj noted that “the geographic nature of the Bekaa, being flatter and less rugged compared to the complex mountainous terrain of the south, may give Israeli forces a tactical advantage if the confrontation shifts there, making this front a likely focal point in the trajectory of escalation.”
The article is a translation of original Arabic.
