Swords of Iron Day 1073: Two Flags on One Border

I am standing at the border between Lebanon and Israel. Behind me there are two flags, Lebanese and Israeli, side by side. On Swords of Iron Day 1073 that image says more than anything I could write.

After years defending this country against Hezbollah, an arm of the IRGC that Iran has funded and armed for decades, I have seen what that organization does up close. Hezbollah has not only hurt Israel. It has hurt southern Lebanon, and it has hurt Lebanese people more than most of the world understands.

Their goal was simple. Kill us, invade the Galilee, finish us. We pushed them back.

But I want to talk about something older than this war.

This Did Not Begin Three Years Ago

Look at those two flags again.

What amazes me, standing on this ground, is remembering the heroes here who were Lebanese. Not dates in a textbook. Not names on a plaque. People who stood on this exact border, faced the same enemy, and made choices that still matter today.

Most of the world has forgotten them. Israel has not.

The Major Who Would Not Abandon His Villages

Saad Haddad was a major in the Lebanese Army. When Palestinian terrorist organizations turned southern Lebanon into a launching ground, the state either could not or would not protect the villages down here.

So Haddad organized the villagers who wanted to defend their own homes. That force became the Free Lebanon Army, and later the South Lebanon Army, the SLA.

When Haddad died of cancer, General Antoine Lahad took command and led the SLA until the very end. Two Lebanese officers, a generation apart, who both concluded that the people trying to destroy Israel were destroying Lebanon at the same time.

Swords of Iron Day 1073: The Army That Crossed Every Line

Here is the part people get wrong. The SLA was not simply a Christian militia.

Christians led it and Christians filled much of it. But over the years the ranks drew in Lebanese from across the south:

• Maronite and other Christian villagers defending their own towns.
• Shia Muslims, who by various accounts made up around a third of the force and in some periods closer to half.
• Druze fighters from the mountain communities.
• Officers and soldiers who spoke both Arabic and Hebrew and moved between two worlds every single day.

Shia Muslims fighting alongside Israel against an Iranian backed Shia militia. Read that again, and then ask yourself how simple this region really is.

By Israeli accounts, more than six hundred SLA soldiers were killed over those years. They died on this border, facing the same enemy we face now.

The Good Fence at Metula

It was never only a military relationship, and that is the part I wish more people knew.

Israel opened what became known as the Good Fence at Metula so that Lebanese from the south could cross for medical treatment they could not get at home. Then came work permits. Then hospitals, agriculture, schools, infrastructure, and ordinary help across the line.

Our Lebanon liaison unit worked with those communities directly, person to person, year after year.

In Metula the Good Fence memorial still stands. A gate that used to open. A reminder that this border was not always a wall.

What Happened When We Left

In 2000, Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon.

The SLA collapsed within days. Our Lebanese friends understood immediately what was coming, and thousands crossed into Israel carrying whatever they could hold. Many are still here. Many are still waiting.

They were afraid Hezbollah would take control of the south.

Look at what Hezbollah has done since. They were right.

Swords of Iron Day 1073: Why I Salute Them From Here

So I stand on this border as one small part of a story that started long before me, and I honor the Lebanese soldiers who fought and died here, along with the Israeli soldiers who stood beside them.

Saad Haddad. Antoine Lahad. The Jewish and Lebanese men who spoke both Arabic and Hebrew and discovered, in the middle of a war, that they were on the same side.

That is not a footnote. That is a map of what is possible.

Lebanon does not have to belong to Hezbollah. The Galilee and southern Lebanon do not have to be enemies forever. They were not always enemies, and the proof is buried in this ground.

Isaiah 2, Psalm 29, and the Day This Fence Comes Down

I hope this fence comes down one day.

History should not live only inside a museum. History should be spoken about, remembered, and lived. We are making it right now, on this border, and we refuse to capitulate to the enemy.

Isaiah 2:4 promises a day when “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

And Psalm 29:11 says, “The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.”

Strength first, then peace. In that order, because the first is what makes the second possible.

I salute the brave southern Lebanese who stood alongside brave Israelis. The future here can look different from the present.

Watch the Full Swords of Iron Day 1073 Update

You can watch the complete Day 1073 briefing on Rumble. For the previous briefing in this series, see Swords of Iron Day 1072. You can also learn more about the work we do on the ground through the Aliyah Return Center.

About These Swords of Iron Updates

Swords of Iron Day 1073 is part of a daily series that the team at the Aliyah Return Center in the Galilee writes from Israel. Each update draws on Israeli and international reporting alongside firsthand perspective from the ground. Our work centers on welcoming and supporting new immigrants, training ambassadors for Israel, and helping friends of Israel around the world understand what is actually happening here. If you would like to visit, volunteer, or support this work, you can reach us through the Aliyah Return Center website.