The UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon says it is "deeply concerned about the serious escalation of hostilities" along the defacto Israel-Lebanon border, known as the Blue Line.
In a statement released on Thursday, UNIFIL said its personnel detected more than 120 projectiles fired from Lebanese territory into Israel overnight from Wednesday into Thursday, as well as seven Israeli airstrikes "and more than 120 incidents of artillery fire in response."
"The recent escalation along the Blue Line is again causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents and extensive destruction of neighbourhoods and villages," UNIFIL said.
A battalion of Irish troops are serving with UNIFIL at the Blue Line.
The Irish Defence Forces told RTÉ that they were "aware of Israeli Defence Forces operations in the UNIFIL area of responsibility and this has had a limited impact" on the Irish battalion.
"Irish personnel are well and accounted for amid ongoing tensions along the Blue Line, where the situation is most intense," they said.
"All necessary force protection measures are being strictly observed by all Irish personnel. Our soldiers continue to carry out all their mandated role and responsibilities."
UNIFIL said the current activity and strikes "are serious violations of resolution 1701," it said, referring to a UN Security Council resolution that brought about a ceasefire agreement which then in turn ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
On Thursday, Israel's defence minister Israel Katz said he and Prime Minister Netanyahu have instructed the IDF to prepare for an expansion of operations in Lebanon following a heavy overnight rocket barrage fired by Hezbollah at Israel.
He also threatened to take over territory in Lebanon, following a heavy night of strikes in northern Israel. "I warned the Lebanese president that if the Lebanese government does not know how to control the territory and prevent Hezbollah from threatening the northern communities and firing at Israel — we will take the territory and do it ourselves."
According to footage verified by RTÉ, statements from Hezbollah and the IDF, and media reports, military activity has increased in recent days around the Irish UNIFIL area of responsibility ('The Irish AOR'), including the main urban centre in South Lebanon, Bint Jbeil, and the town closest to the Irish outpost on the Blue Line, Maroun El Ras.
A UN battalion led by Irish officers operates the main base in the area, Camp Shamrock, and two outposts: UNP 6-52 and another blue line post called UNP 6-50, which is staffed by troops from a Polish contingent. The whole area patrolled by the Irish battalion is slightly larger than Cork City.
Many towns in the area are considered Hezbollah strongholds. Hezbollah is an Iranian-backed Lebanese Shia Muslim military and political group which has operated for decades in Lebanon.
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The Irish outpost UNP 6-52 is located outside the town of Maroun El Ras. Typically, platoons of approximately 30 troops rotate from the camp into the outpost every few weeks.
Maroun El Ras is on a hill behind the post, the town was the site of heavy fighting in 2024 during another Israeli ground incursion. On Tuesday, the IDF said its ground divisions are again operating in south Lebanon.
That same day, Hezbollah channels said they had targetted Israeli forces on the outskirts of Maroun El Ras using drones.
The group also said it had detected Israeli forces advancing towards Aitroun, a village roughly 2km east of Maroun El Ras, and targeted it with "artillery shells, followed by direct clashes with light and medium weapons."
Video circulating on Wednesday across Lebanese news and social media accounts showed a line of Israeli tanks, being led by a digger, pass by the outpost staffed by Irish troops, UNP 6-52, just outside Maroun El Ras.
The whole area consists of rolling hills and plains - several dozen Israeli troops patrolled behind the vehicles as they passed the Irish outpost on the base of hill near Maroun El Ras.
A TV news report from Al Hadath, Saudi Arabian state-owned news channel, showed the video during a live update from a reporter on the ground in South Lebanon.
According to a translation of the report, the reporter said there had been Israeli tank movements in Maroun El Ras. The town was described as being militarily vulnerable because it sits partly on a hilltop directly opposite Israeli positions, and that it was on route to Aitaroun, another town in the Irish AOR that has been the subject of Israeli military activity – on the ground and from the air - over recent days.
They also mentioned that communications around Maroun al-Ras, Yaroun and Aitaroun have been restricted or cut off. Israeli forces had already entered and established positions in Yaroun around six or seven days earlier, the report added.
Yaroun is overlooked by the other blue line outpost commanded from Camp Shamrock.
On Wednesday, Arabic-language news reports said Israeli strikes had hit Maroun El Ras, as well as Yaroun, another border town within the Irish AOR.
At least one fatality was reported in Maroun El Ras by local media after a building was struck.
Bint Jbeil is the largest town in the Irish AOR. The Irish battalion is based at Camp Shamrock, which is about 2.5km from Bint Jbeil.
There have been local media reports of Israeli airstrikes on the Bint Jbeil district since last week, but they appear to have intensified further on Wednesday.
According to multiple media reports citing Lebanese health officials, at least nine people were killed around the Bint Jbeil area.
Airstrikes were also reported in nearby Beit Yahoun on Wednesday, a town roughly 4km north of Bint Jbeil, and roughly 4km northwest from Camp Shamrock.
