As it intensifies with war in the south, Israel has a simmering conflict on its northern border with Lebanon.

Under a ceasfire agreement, Israel was supposed to withdraw from the area in January but the military has recently expanded its presence stating the militant group Hezbollah was in violation of the terms and an active threat.

Our correspondent brings us this report.

Reporter: An Israeli flag firmly planted on the soil, I new posted idf set up in Lebanon in recent months.

A roadblock.

Next with the burnt hull of a car hit by Israeli fire as a warning.

Next see that machine-gun they put up on the base?

We get close to those barrels, they shoot immediately.

Reporter: He used to live here, his house nothing more than a pile of rubble.

>> That is my house.

You see that tree just 20 meters from here.

My house went in an air raid but the rest of the neighborhood was booby-trapped and detonated in a single day.

>> The idea -- idf base is located within Lebanon territory and has cut off the main road to the border.

Family homes used to be an area including areas raised to the ground in what amnesty international call deliberate destruction of civilian property.

The newly elected mayor said one third of agricultural land remains inaccessible.

>> Farmers can't move away from their land, they depend on it to survive, they must return it.

Reporter: The mayor says the idf has killed five civilians as they tried to return to their land.

>> They don't want to see anyone here.

They want this to become a buffer zone.

If they target one person, the others will not try to come back.

>> The idf was supposed to leave in January but in March the Israeli defense minister said it would indefinitely keep five outposts in the territory and some of them have been built right next to peacekeepers who like the Lebanese army have not been able to stop the ongoing occupation.

The idf has high vantage points overlooking Israeli settlements and could be used to launch attacks.

We drove along the border to see the impact of Israel's military action.

>> The first thing you notice is the utter level of destruction here, there's barely a house standing.

It is difficult to get from village to village because of the new Israeli outpost we are having to take detours, some of the roads have been blocked off because it is too dangerous.

We find village after village reduced to ghost town.

These are the ruins of far kila.

In the distance on the hill behind it we can see another idf base.

This is the deepest idf post looking over plains of khiam, from where Hezbollah used to launch rockets into Israel.

Hezbollah has seized its attacks on Israeli settlements, seen here across the wall, but the idf has shown no signs of leaving, making its withdrawal conditional on the group's complete disarmament.

Meanwhile Israel has committed near daily ceasefire violations.

Ali faqih is a construction worker whose bulldozer was taken out by an Israeli drone earlier this month.

The drone seems to have dropped explosives or fired a small projectile, setting fire to the engine.

Ali believes the goal was to intimidate villagers who try to rebuild.

>> We are working on our homes that god damaged during the war.

If they the idf think these strikes will make us leave, they are wrong.

This is our land and we will die here.

Reporter: After the attack, another drone dropped flyers onto the area.

>> It says that the bulldozer was in fact rehabilitating a military installation belonging to Hezbollah.

You can see an image of the bulldozer right here and it goes on to warn villagers to distance themselves from the group.

Reporter: Support for Hezbollah runs deep in Lebanon's south.

People here call it "The resistance," seeing it as Lebanon's primary bulwark against Israel but Ali says , neither he nor his client have any connections to the group.

>> They don't want anyone to do construction work here, they want the area to be empty so they can do whatever they want.

Reporter: Hezbollah has handed over hundreds of its military facilities to the Lebanese army, which is supposed to fill the security vacuum.

But it lacks the equipment, capabilities and political backing to protect Lebanon's sovereignty against the much more powerful idf.

In Aita al-shaab, a Hezbollah stronghold right on the border, people have little confidence that the Lebanese army can protect them.

>> God help the Lebanese army.

They are standing by the bulldozer to protect it from Israeli drones.

What kind of army is that?

Let's be honest, they don't protect us.

Reporter: Villagers say the idf destroyed a Lebanese army outpost that used to overlook the village and still uses it to stage operations.

>> Israeli forces come at night on the outskirts of the village.

Not long ago they blew up a few houses in the village.

Reporter: In the cemetery, where many Hezbollah fighters lay buried, I met aziza Srour, who came to visit her brother's grave.

She is unable to return home to houla because an idf post now stands on the rubble of her house.

For her the reason is clear.

>> Israel's goal is to expand, they want to create greater Israel.

Reporter: Hezbollah has rejected us-led calls for its disarmament as long as Israel occupies Lebanese land.

For pbs news weekend, I'm Simona foltyn at Lebanon's border with Israel.

Lisa: We reached out to the Israeli military about our report.

They told us they operate carefully in accordance with international law and said their actions in southern Lebanon are defensive in nature and are meant to neutralize immediate threats to Israel's security.

They added that any claim that Israel intends to occupy Lebanon is baseless, and they strongly condemn it.

Still to come on pbs news weekend -- we explore a new tool being used in the fight against suicide, comedy.

And a colorful legacy.

The archive of British rock star David bowie.

>> This is pbs news weekend from the davidm.

Rubenstein studio at weta in Washington,