IDF Reveals Hezbollah Weapons Cache Hidden Inside Lebanese Schools

On Wednesday, coinciding with the International Day for the Protection of Education from Attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released details and imagery illustrating Hezbollah's alleged use of schools and civilian infrastructure for military purposes in southern Lebanon. During operations in the Bint Jbeil region, Israeli soldiers reportedly discovered over 130 Hezbollah weapons, including Kalashnikov rifles, handguns, and other equipment, concealed within a school. In the Al-Khiam sector, the IDF reported finding hundreds of weapons in another school, such as anti-tank rockets, mortar shells, grenades, missile launchers, small arms, and mines. Items marked with the UNHCR logo, the UN refugee agency, were also found at this site. Further discoveries in a different southern Lebanese school included military equipment, Hezbollah uniforms, graduation certificates from the Radwan force, and surface-to-surface rockets. The IDF also stated that it identified Hezbollah operatives launching rockets toward northern Israel from a launcher hidden inside a school in the Tir Zibneh area, an area subsequently struck by the Israeli military. An IDF official indicated that these findings represent only a fraction of what has been uncovered since the war began. The official claimed that some Shiite educational institutions in southern Lebanon receive funding and support from Hezbollah-affiliated organizations, granting the group significant influence over the local education system. Additionally, the official alleged that propaganda material glorifying Hezbollah, inciting violence against Israel, or denying its existence is present in some schools, and that children are exposed to the organization's ideology from a young age. Some civilian structures, the official added, possess basements or underground networks connected to weapons storage sites. The IDF emphasized, however, that the mere presence of Hezbollah flags or symbols on a building does not automatically render it a military target, stating that intelligence and additional evidence are required to classify a civilian structure as terrorist infrastructure.