Mapping the Twilight Zone

Here's where Ghajar sits in relation to Lebanon, Israel, and Syria.

573853_100202_lebanon_southern_border_1986_edited12.jpg
573853_100202_lebanon_southern_border_1986_edited12.jpg

 

 

 

Red Line — The initial Israeli advance after the 1967 war.

Blue Line — When Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in May 2000, they withdrew their forces south of this line.

Purple Line — Following the 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel, Israeli forces took control of the entire village and established the new boundary along a security fence on this line. The current negotiations surround a possible Israeli withdrawal from the area between the purple line and the blue line.

Top map: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency

Bottom map: The hand-drawn lines were provided by Nicholas Blanford

 

<p> Andrew Tabler is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and author of In the Lion's Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington's Battle With Syria. </p>
Read More On Economics

More from Foreign Policy

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger prepares to testify before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger prepares to testify before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Was Henry Kissinger Really a Realist?

America’s most famous 20th century statesman wasn’t exactly what he claimed to be.

The leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, shakes hands with Iranian Chief of Staff for the Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri and the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard force, General Hossein Salami, during the swearing in ceremony for Iran's new president at the parliament in the Islamic republic's capital Tehran on August 5, 2021.
The leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, shakes hands with Iranian Chief of Staff for the Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri and the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard force, General Hossein Salami, during the swearing in ceremony for Iran's new president at the parliament in the Islamic republic's capital Tehran on August 5, 2021.

The 7 Reasons Iran Won’t Fight for Hamas

A close look at Tehran’s thinking about escalating the war in Gaza.

A globe with blocks and chunks missing from it sits atop the shoulders of a person looking into a dystopian horizon.
A globe with blocks and chunks missing from it sits atop the shoulders of a person looking into a dystopian horizon.

The Global Credibility Gap

No one power or group can uphold the international order anymore—and that means much more geopolitical uncertainty ahead.

Joaquin Phoenix (center) stars in the film "Napoleon."
Joaquin Phoenix (center) stars in the film "Napoleon."

What Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’ Gets Wrong About War

The film’s ideas have poisoned military thinking for centuries.