GEOFF BENNETT: After 48 years, the U.N.

peacekeeping mission in Southern Lebanon is nearing the end of its mandate.

Its planned withdrawal comes at a volatile moment, with the Israeli military occupying roughly 6 percent of Lebanese territory following years of fighting with Hezbollah and amid the broader fallout from the U.S.-Israel war with Iran.

Special correspondent Simona Foltyn and videographer Adrian Hartrick gained rare access with the peacekeepers traveling south of Israel's so-called Yellow Line.

SIMONA FOLTYN: We are embedding with U.N.

peacekeepers headed towards Israel's occupation zone in Southern Lebanon.

This is one of the few ways journalists can access this border region where the Israeli military has been consolidating its control.

We passed the Israeli checkpoint some four miles inside Lebanese territory, crossing the Yellow Line that demarcates Israel's areas of control.

The United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, was set up in 1978 to ensure the Israeli army's withdrawal after its first invasion of Lebanon.

Israel ended up staying for 22 years, leaving in 2000.

Now the U.N.

Security Council has told UNIFIL to pack up, even as Israel has once again occupied parts of the country, seizing a strip of land along the border where the Iran-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah used to hold sway.

Along our route, the Israeli army has destroyed almost every village, pushing out the civilians who used to live here.

there is no presence of the Lebanese state, only the Israeli army and UNIFIL.

Our destination is a U.N.

outpost near the town of Bint Jbeil.

French peacekeepers are manning this remote position.

What is the importance of this particular outpost for UNIFIL's role in Southern Lebanon?

CAPT.

GIRARD, UNIFIL: So this is a really strategic position.

We are the eyes for UNIFIL and basically for U.N.

and maybe as, I would say, the world.

SIMONA FOLTYN: France is the only nation to have deployed advanced radar systems, which allows UNIFIL to detect artillery and rocket fire.

CAPT.

GIRARD: Basically, we can see, detect what's happening in this particular area.

I think we are doing quite a strategic mission in here.

SIMONA FOLTYN: What was that just now?

CAPT.

GIRARD: Oh, there's an explosion here on the side.

They're destroying some houses to make sure that the population will never come back.

SIMONA FOLTYN: There has been little active fighting following a June cease-fire, but the Israeli military has continued to demolish civilian infrastructure as part of its stated plan to create a depopulated buffer zone on Lebanese soil to keep Hezbollah away from its northern border.

CAPT.

GIRARD: So my platoon in this pretty isolated outpost has been able to monitor every destruction, every fighting and every artillery shellings and airstrikes.

SIMONA FOLTYN: With the help of that outpost, UNIFIL has recorded more than 11,000 violations by the IDF since June this year, including airspace violations, airstrikes, artillery strikes, as well as the IDF's illegal presence in Lebanon.

One violation has been attributed to Hezbollah.

And so, when you leave, when you essentially hand over this outpost, nobody is going to be monitoring what's going on in this area, right?

CAPT.

GIRARD: That's why France is pushing to make sure that we won't give up our position and, even if we have to give up on UNIFIL, France is pushing to get a multinational force in the southern part of Lebanon, maybe with other European countries.

SIMONA FOLTYN: Around 40 French U.N.

peacekeepers have been holding down the fort here.

Corporal Alexander has been deployed for four months.

CPL.

ALEXANDER, UNIFIL: Well, it's been kind of challenging because we're in a base that's kind of isolated with the -- what's going on around, the impacts, the GBU that's falling, the difficulty to get resource But we're trained for it, so it's been all right.

SIMONA FOLTYN: Israeli troops have set up close to the U.N.

post.

CPL.

ALEXANDER: Sometimes they give us a hard time to get the convoys here or just to do a switch between personnel.

SIMONA FOLTYN: On our way out, we get a small taste of these obstructions.

There is a lot of Israeli military presence surrounding this U.N.

position.

We're not allowed to film them, but we have seen Merkava tanks.

We have seen jeeps loaded with explosives, and we have seen Israeli soldiers occupying Lebanese homes.

Before long, our convoy comes to a halt.

So there's another Merkava tank that's blocking the road.

So the convoy has stopped, and we're waiting to see if they will let us pass.

A GoPro camera mounted to our vehicle captures the scene.

The Israeli tank moves deeper into the road, momentarily cutting off our path.

Eventually, it backs up and lets us pass.

Such incidents are not isolated and are considered by UNIFIL to be a denial of its freedom of movement.

Israeli officials have made it clear that they want UNIFIL to leave, saying it has failed to ensure Hezbollah's disarmament since the 2006 war.

Last year, amid Israeli and U.S.

pressure, the U.N.

Security Council voted to end UNIFIL'S mission by the end of 2026.

But, on the ground, it appears that UNIFIL is leaving with its work left unfinished.

At its headquarters in Naqoura, the "News Hour" spoke to UNIFIL's force commander in his first interview with an American broadcaster.

MAN: In this moment, the UNIFIL troops, the presence is essential.

I believe in that, and my soldiers, they believe in that.

SIMONA FOLTYN: UNIFIL currently deploys more than 7,000 uniformed personnel from nearly 50 countries.

At the end of the year, they will start withdrawing.

The plan is to hand over to the Lebanese army.

MAN: The solution for us is just to create the best condition for Lebanese armed forces.

SIMONA FOLTYN: Do you think it's realistic that the Lebanese army will take over, given that at the moment they're not even allowed by the Israeli army to enter south of the Yellow Line?

MAN: Yes, but I think that, day by day, we are continuing to support them, to increase our combined operation.

But I think that it's very important for international community to support them, not only about equipment, but also about training to create a very strong army.

SIMONA FOLTYN: While the IDF says it must maintain what it calls a security zone inside Lebanon to protect communities in Northern Israel, many here fear that the U.N.

's departure will allow Israel to further tighten its grip over areas it already occupies.

Because the Israeli army restricts civilian traffic here, the few Christian communities who've been allowed to stay now depend mostly on humanitarian convoys.

For the people of the town of Rmeich, UNIFIL has been a lifeline.

MICHEL SHOUFANY, Rmeich, Lebanon, Resident (through translator): We want UNIFIL to stay.

They help our security, society and our economy.

If someone is sick, if someone needs anything, they help escort them.

UNIFIL does the permission so that people can come and go with them.

If UNIFIL weren't here, I don't know if there would be any convoys.

SIMONA FOLTYN: The U.N.

peacekeepers will soon be gone, and, with them, the small semblance of security for the last civilians holding out here.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Simona Foltyn in Southern Lebanon.

GEOFF BENNETT: The "News Hour" requested comment from the Israel Defense Forces.

They responded, saying in part that Hezbollah's presence south of the Litani River is unacceptable.

The IDF also said it disagrees with how UNIFIL classifies the reported incidents as violations and that the IDF works to prevent friction and help safeguard the security of UNIFIL and IDF personnel.