Blue Line (withdrawal line)
[4] On 11 March 1978 Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) operatives, led by Dalal Mugrabi, carried out the Coastal Road massacre within Israel which resulted in the deaths of 37 Israelis, including 13 children, and 76 wounded.
Starting on the night of March 14–15 and culminating a few days later, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops occupied the entire southern part of Lebanon except for the city of Tyre and its surrounding area.
This operation is known in Israel as Operation Litani, the stated objective of which was to clear out PLO bases in Lebanon south of the Litani River, in order to better secure northern Israel and to support the Christian Lebanese militias in the Lebanese Civil War - most notably the Free Lebanon Army.
On 15 March 1978 the Lebanese government submitted a strong protest to the United Nations Security Council against the Israeli invasion, stating that it had no connection with the Palestinian operation.
On 19 March 1978 the Council adopted Resolution 425, in which it called upon Israel to cease immediately its military action and withdraw its forces from all Lebanese territory.
On 17 April 2000, when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak announced that Israel would begin withdrawing its forces from Lebanon, the Lebanese government did not want to take part in marking the border.
The United Nations cartographer and his team, assisted by UNIFIL, worked on the ground to identify a line to be adopted for the practical purposes of confirming the Israeli withdrawal.
While it was agreed that this would not be a formal border demarcation, the aim was to identify a line on the ground closely conforming to the internationally recognized boundaries of Lebanon, based on the best available cartographic and other documentary evidence.
On 7 June 2000, the completed map showing the withdrawal line was formally transmitted by the Force Commander of UNIFIL to his Lebanese and Israeli counterparts.
Namely, that Israel had completed the withdrawal in conformity with the line identified by the United Nations, the South Lebanese Army militia had been dismantled, and all detainees held at Al-Khiam prison had been freed.
Israel responded to diversionary rocketing of civilian villages and an attack on an Israeli tank patrol with massive airstrikes and artillery fire on Lebanese targets and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
[30] In response, Israel fired at least 50 artillery shells across the border into southern Lebanon, killing a Spanish UN peacekeeper.
[31] In December 2018, Israel initiated Operation Northern Shield to destroy cross-border tunnels built by Hezbollah along the border.
[38] In 2023 and 2024, a large number of Blue Line violations by Hezbollah, Palestinian factions under their control, and Israel took place during the Israel–Hamas war and the Israel–Hezbollah conflict.
