UN peacekeepers said Tuesday they had found around four tons of mainly ammonium nitrate explosives this month in a south Lebanon border village under Israeli occupation. On July 2 during a "routine route check" near Houla, "peacekeepers found 385 containers abandoned inside a building, containing approximately 4,000 kilograms of explosive material, consisting mainly of ammonium nitrate compounds", the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said in a statement. UNIFIL specialists "later carried out on-site procedures to render the material inert, making it safe and removing the risk it posed". A source with knowledge of the matter told AFP on condition of anonymity that the containers had Hebrew writing on them and were "likely used for demolitions". Houla is part of a strip of territory running around 10 kilometers (six miles) deep inside Lebanon along the border where Israeli forces, who invaded during the latest war with Hezbollah, have been operating and have warned residents not to return. Iran-backed Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel in support of Tehran, triggering major Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion. While violence has declined since last month's US-Iran memorandum on the regional conflict, and a separate framework deal between Lebanon and Israel, Lebanon has reported ongoing Israeli demolitions and detonations of buildings in border villages and towns. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency has reported Israeli detonations in Houla on four occasions this month. On July 8, the Houla municipality condemned "in the strongest terms the crimes the Israeli enemy is carrying out of burning, blowing up and destroying homes, public buildings and private property". Ammonium nitrate, used in fertilizers as well as in explosives, triggers grim memories in Lebanon. On August 4, 2020, a stockpile of the chemical exploded at Beirut's port, after being stored haphazardly for years. The blast killed more than 220 people, injured over 6,500 others and laid waste to swathes of the capital.
