Context of the Social Media Allegations
Viral posts across digital platforms have repeatedly alleged that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) deployed prohibited chemical weapons, specifically white phosphorus artillery shells, directly against the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in Naqoura. The accompanying video clips depict plumes of white smoke rising in the border region of southern Lebanon, presented to online audiences as visual confirmation of an unlawful assault on international peacekeepers. However, this narrative fabricates both the operational reality of the engagements and the legal status of battlefield smoke obscurants under international humanitarian law.
Defensive Smoke Screens Versus Incendiary Munitions
The visual evidence circulated online depicts the deployment of standard screening smoke munitions rather than an offensive incendiary strike. During high-intensity ground operations against the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, Israeli armored units operated in areas where Hezbollah fighters maintained heavily fortified positions and anti-tank guided missile squads. In documented combat incidents in mid-October 2024, as reported by the Associated Press, Israeli units came under heavy anti-tank fire that left multiple soldiers wounded. To extract casualties under active fire, troops fired smoke rounds to generate a defensive visual screen between their evacuation vehicles and enemy anti-tank firing positions.
Battlefield obscuration is a standard, indispensable force-protection measure employed by Western armed forces to protect personnel from precision-guided weapons. The smoke munitions were fired outside the perimeter of the peacekeeping installation to mask evacuation routes from hostile sightlines, not directly at or into the base. While drifting smoke caused eye and skin irritation to personnel stationed in nearby observation positions, the shells were non-lethal obscurants intended exclusively to suppress targeting capabilities during an ongoing ambush.
Legal Status Under the Law of Armed Conflict
A core element of the disinformation campaign is the assertion that white phosphorus is an "internationally banned weapon." Under international humanitarian law, white phosphorus is classified as a conventional munition and is not prohibited by international treaties. The Chemical Weapons Convention does not classify white phosphorus as a chemical weapon because its primary tactical mechanism relies on thermal energy and dense aerosol generation rather than systemic biochemical toxicity. Furthermore, Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), which governs incendiary arms, explicitly excludes munitions designed for smoke-screening, illumination, signaling, or tracing.
As legal scholars at the American Society of International Law and military analysts have repeatedly clarified, the use of phosphorus-based obscurants for visual screening and troop concealment is fully compliant with the Law of Armed Conflict. The IDF's operational guidelines require that smoke munitions be employed exclusively for obscuration and target marking rather than as anti-personnel incendiaries. Because these shells serve to shield military personnel from hostile observation during active combat maneuvers, their deployment adheres to the principles of distinction, proportionality, and military necessity.
Hezbollah's Exploitation of Peacekeeping Buffer Zones
The operational environment along the Blue Line is directly shaped by Hezbollah's systematic violation of regional agreements and its embedding of military infrastructure near peacekeeping outposts. Hezbollah has constructed launch tunnels, reinforced bunkers, and anti-tank missile launch sites within tens of meters of international observation positions, intentionally exploiting peacekeeper installations as tactical shields. By launching attacks on Israeli forces from the direct vicinity of international posts, Hezbollah deliberately endangers international observers and seeks to generate deceptive propaganda when defensive measures or smoke screens are required to protect retreating or evacuating troops.