Israel’s former Lebanese military allies grapple with renewed Hezbollah threat

The looming threat of a war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is reviving painful memories for former Lebanese militiamen and their families who fled to Israel, their erstwhile ally, more than 20 years ago

The looming threat of a war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is reviving painful memories for former Lebanese militiamen and their families who fled to Israel, their erstwhile ally, more than 20 years ago.

The South Lebanon Army (SLA) was a mostly Christian militia recruited by Israel when it occupied south Lebanon in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Zadalnikim, as the SLA’s former members are known in Israel from the group’s Hebrew acronym, sought shelter south of the border in the aftermath of Israel’s sudden withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, fearing reprisals from Hezbollah, whom they had fought for years in a brutal and uncompromising conflict.

Iran-backed Hezbollah — a Hamas ally with a large arsenal of rockets and missiles — has exchanged fire with Israeli forces almost daily since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 triggering war in Gaza.

In response, Israel has carried out strikes deeper and deeper into Lebanese territory, targeting several Hezbollah commanders.

A strip several kilometres wide on either side of the border has become a de facto war zone, emptied of its tens of thousands of civilian residents.

“They told us to prepare for two weeks in a hotel in Tiberias” in northern Israel, said Claude Ibrahim, one of Israel’s more prominent Lebanese collaborators.