South Lebanon security belt South Lebanon Security Belt was an area near Lebanon ' s border with Israel . The Israel Defense Forces ( IDF ) remained there after the South Lebanon Army ' s ( SLA ' s ) retreat during the years 1983 - 1985 . This freed most of the Lebanese territory that were seized during Operation Peace for Galilee , the first Lebanon war , which began in 1982 . The IDF retreated from the security belt to Israel ' s international border in 2000 . Israel ' s stated purpose for the Security Zone was to create a space that separates the northern border towns and terrorists residing in Lebanon . During the stay in the security belt , the IDF held many positions and supported the SLA . The SLA took over daily life in the security zone and controlled the prison in Khiam . In addition , United Nations ( UN ) forces and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon ( UNIFIL ) were deployed to the security belt ( from the end of Operation Litani in 1978 ) . The strip was a few miles wide , and consisted of about 10 % of the total territory of Lebanon , which housed about 150 villages and towns made up of Shiites , Maronites and Druze . In the central zone of the Strip was the Maronite town Marjayoun , which was the capital of the security belt . Residents remaining in the security zone had many contacts with Israel , many of whom have worked there and received various services from Israel . Historical background . Although the strip was officially formed in 1985 , following the IDF withdrawal from most of South Lebanon , it has its roots in the early Lebanese civil war . From 1968 , the Palestine Liberation Organization ( PLO ) controlled southern Lebanon . In 1975 , the PLO ' s control became a severe nuisance to Christians and local residents . The Christians asked Israel for its assistance . From mid - 1976 , Israel began to assist the Christian residents across the border by opening the border , or Good Fence , in Metola , and through military cooperation with the Christian militia , the Free Lebanon Army , which was established under the Christian officer Major Saad Haddad . 1985 until 2000 . During the evacuation in the first Lebanon war , the command of the SLA was delivered into the hands of Antoine Lahad , who demanded and received Israeli permission to hold the Jezzine zone north of the strip . In the first years after the IDF withdrawal from the north part of Lebanon , the strip was relatively quiet . Over the years , the Lebanese resistance , led by Hezbollah , increased on the Israeli side in the security belt . Driving on the roads became dangerous , and IDF forces stayed more in the military camps than on the roads . Hezbollah made many efforts to attack the IDF ' s military camps . On 16 February 1992 , the then - leader of Hezbollah , Abbas Musawi , was assassinated by IDF ' s helicopter missiles . The IDF assumed that the Hezbollah leadership would curb their activities for fear of their lives and the lives of their families . Hezbollah was headed by Sheikh Nasrallah . The conflict never escalated into open warfare . Israeli soldiers serving in Southern Lebanon received no ribbon for wartime military service , because Israel considered the maintaining of the security belt as a low - intensity conflict rather than a war . In early 2000 , Chief - of - Staff Shaul Mofaz said that 1999 was " the IDF ' s most successful year in Lebanon " with 11 soldiers killed by hostiles in Southern Lebanon , the lowest casualty rate during the entire conflict . A total number of 256 Israeli soldiers died while occupying the security zone from 1985 - 2000 , compared to 301 military personnel killed between 2000 and 2005 in the Palestinian territories and within Israel . Withdrawal from the security belt . Before the Israeli election in May 1999 the prime minister of Israel , Ehud Barak , promised that within a year all Israelis forces would withdraw from Lebanon . When negotiation efforts failed between Israel and Syria — the goal of the negotiations was to bring a peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon as well , due to Syrian control of Lebanon until 2005 — Barak led the withdrawal of the IDF to the Israeli border on 24 May 2000 . No soldiers were killed or wounded during the redeployment to the internationally recognized border .