American diplomats proposed replacing Israeli forces in southern Lebanon with private military contractors, an idea that others quickly rejected.
The U.S., which co-brokered the ceasefire deal, offered to deploy private contractors in Netzarim, according to an American diplomatic source. This region includes several strategic areas.
Al-Oweida hill, located between the Lebanese border towns of Meis al-Jabal and Blida, oversees many Israeli kibbutzim, according to a Lebanese security source. Al-Hamamim hill near Khiam is 900 metres high, providing a clear view of Israel. Jabal Blat is considered a strategically sensitive location between the Lebanese towns of Marwahin and Ramiya. It overlooks vast sections of southern Lebanon and allows for easy movement as it is an uninhabited area with little infrastructure.
Al-Labbouneh hill, located on the western side of Lebanon’s border with Israel, oversees much of Lebanon’s southwestern region, including the city of Tyre and the Burj al-Shamali Palestinian refugee camp. Finally, al-Aziza hill overlooks the Israeli towns of Metula and Kiryat Shmona, which were regular targets for Hezbollah’s rocket attacks during the war.
Israel and Hezbollah
The current conflict began in October 2024 when Hezbollah fighters operating from southern Lebanon lobbed rockets into Israeli-occupied territory to support Hamas in Gaza. Israel’s October 1 invasion was the sixth Israeli invasion of Lebanon since 1978. In fact, the two sides had just ended a thirteen-month conflict a few weeks earlier.
When fighting began, Hezbollah promised that it would agree to an immediate ceasefire once the Israel-Gaza conflict ended. Israel stated that it attacked Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah’s military capabilities so that they no longer pose a threat to it.
As of February 2025, fighting in Gaza has ceased but fighting in Lebanon continues. The U.S. believes that if private military contractors replace Israeli forces, Hezbollah might make good on its commitment.
Hezbollah made this promise in October 2024, when the fighting was only small scale. Hezbollah initially retreated from southern Lebanon in the face of Israeli attacks that killed ten people and wounded five.
But Hezbollah was far from finished and fighting escalated. Israeli airstrikes followed Hezbollah rocket attacks. For a time, it appeared that fighting might spread, after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched at least 181 missiles toward Israel, with at least one building being hit in Tel Aviv.
Although the war remained local, fighting intensified as Israeli jets hit targets in several Beirut suburbs. Both sides have allegedly targeted civilians and UN peacekeeping forces. As a result, many countries have called on their citizens to leave Lebanon and/or began evacuating them. These nations include Australia, Canada, Colombia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Private Military Contractors and Politics
Contractors often replace regular soldiers in combat situations, mostly for political reasons at home and abroad.
Israelis and Lebanese basically despise each other. Many Israelis believe that all Lebanese are Hezbollah terrorists or sympathizers, and many Lebanese believe that all Israelis are pushy imperialists. This friction probably dates back to the 1917 Balfour Declaration.
The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British Government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. The declaration was contained in a letter dated 2 November 1917 from the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland.
British officials most likely hoped that the Balfour Declaration would encourage diaspora Jews living in the United States to pressure their government to go all-in in the war against Germany and Austria. But the declaration had wide-ranging consequences.
It greatly increased popular support for Zionism within Jewish communities worldwide, and became a core component of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founding document of Mandatory Palestine. It indirectly led to the emergence of the State of Israel and is considered a principal cause of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict, often described as the world’s most intractable one.
Defusing this tension is a top priority, because no one wants another Israel-Lebanon war. But replacing Israeli troops with regular American servicemembers isn’t an option. However, replacing Israeli troops with private military contractors is an excellent option, from a political perspective.
In the Middle East, private military contractors are people doing their jobs. They aren’t American puppets. In Washington, private military contractors allow policymakers to accomplish dangerous objectives, such as bringing peace to southern Lebanon and Northern Israel, without putting regular servicemembers at risk.
Injury Compensation Available
When private military contractors deploy, regular servicemembers might not bear the risk, but the risk is still there. This risk usually includes trauma injuries and occupational diseases, both of which are covered by the Defense Base Act.
Non-combat trauma injuries normally outnumber combat-related injuries. So, motor vehicle crashes may be the most common private military contractor injuries. Vehicle infrastructure is underdeveloped, to say the least, in many parts of the Middle East. Dodging rockets and passing through battle-damaged areas magnifies this risk.
In Lebanon, Israel, America, and everywhere else, vehicle collisions often cause serious injuries, such as:
- Head Injuries: Many combat vehicles are not designed for occupant safety. In fact, many do not have seat belts or padded dashboards. So, during collisions, occupants hit their heads on solid metal. That impact usually causes a permanent head injury.
- Internal Bleeding: The motion of a crash, as opposed to a trauma impact, often causes internal injuries. This motion causes internal organs to brush and grind against each other. The resulting in abrasions that usually bleed profusely. Internal organs do not have protective skin layers.
- Broken Bones: Frequently, a motor vehicle collision shatters bones instead of breaking them. That’s especially true for leg and arm bones. Surgeons must use metal parts to surgically reconstruct these bones. The more aggressive, and more expensive, medical treatment means longer, and more expensive, physical therapy.
Hearing loss may be the most common occupational disease among private military contractors. This condition is easy to correct if doctors catch it early enough. Unfortunately, most people do not run to the doctor at the first sign of hearing loss. So, their conditions deteriorate.
If the illness or injury was deployment-related, a Defense Base Act lawyer normally obtains compensation for lost wages and medical bills. Other benefits may be available as well.