Under ceasefire committee pressure, LAF inspects alleged Hezbollah site in Mrayjeh-Laylaki

On Sunday, June 8, 2025, Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) units claimed to have inspected a suspected Hezbollah military site in the Mrayjeh-Laylaki neighborhoods of Beirut’s southern suburbs, also known as Dahiyeh. This inspection happened three days after the Israeli military conducted its most extensive strikes on Dahiyeh, targeting alleged Hezbollah drone storage and production facilities in the Hadath, Haret Hreik, and Burj Al Barajneh neighborhoods.

The LAF initially claimed that the Israelis notified it of the Hezbollah facility in Mrayjeh-Laylaki on Thursday afternoon—long before the onset of that evening’s airstrikes —through the November 27, 2024, Lebanon-Israel ceasefire oversight committee. The site is located approximately 1.2 kilometers southwest of the southernmost drone installation that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) targeted in Thursday evening’s strikes. (For a full breakdown of Israel’s June 5, 2025, operation, see FDD Long War Journal’s report).

When the Israelis eventually struck Dahiyeh, they did not target the Mrayjeh-Laylaki site. The LAF claims to have sent a unit to the Mrayjeh-Laylaki location before the onset of the IDF strikes. The Lebanese soldiers allegedly inspected and documented the absence of any military hardware and sent their evidence to the ceasefire oversight committee.

However, on Sunday evening, Lebanese media outlets reported that the oversight committee instructed the LAF to visit and inspect the site by conducting 10-meter-deep excavations; otherwise, the Israelis would target the location. According to an Al Jadeed report, the LAF initially rejected the committee’s instructions. The Lebanese Army insisted that the oversight mechanism’s authority and the LAF’s duty to respond to the committee’s requests to inspect suspected Hezbollah sites were limited to the area south of the Litani River. The LAF also reportedly reminded the committee of its alleged earlier inspection of the site.

In the end, the oversight committee compelled an inspection. Masked LAF soldiers headed to the area and reportedly surrounded it with a security cordon, unsuccessfully prohibiting onlookers from filming their activities. The LAF also brought in bulldozers to further investigate the site while three Israeli drones circled overhead.

In an amateur video documenting the LAF’s June 8 activities at the Mrayjeh-Laylaki site, an unidentified nearby resident overlooking the area can be heard saying, “Here they are, the army have returned [emphasis added].” This language suggests that the LAF had sent a unit to the area in the previous days. However, the nature of the Lebanese soldiers’ activities and the extensiveness of their inspection cannot be independently verified.

On June 8, the earliest reports put the LAF’s arrival at the Mrayjeh-Laylaki site at around 6:48 pm. The Lebanese force reportedly completed its task in under two hours, with reports timestamped at 8:31 pm saying the army had already left the area. Footage recorded by residents after excavations and the LAF’s inspection shows only one hole that could have reached the 10 meters into the ground requested by the oversight committee. The LAF did not issue an official statement regarding its activities at the site. However, an anonymous “military source” told Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI) that the Lebanese Army did not uncover “anything.”

Israel had targeted the alleged Hezbollah site in Mrayjeh-Laylaki on September 30, 2024, during the height of the Israel-Hezbollah war. At the time, the IDF did not specify the exact nature of the site, its statement only saying it was an “underground Hezbollah weapons production facility.”

David Daoud is Senior Fellow at at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies where he focuses on Israel, Hezbollah, and Lebanon affairs.