Lebanon: Massive return after the ceasefire

Tens of thousands of Lebanese driven out by the war between Hezbollah and Israel have been on their way back since Wednesday, to find their towns and villages devastated after the ceasefire came into force, despite warnings from the Israeli army.

The truce in principle puts an end to the conflict that began more than 13 months ago between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Islamist movement, which turned into open war in September and left thousands dead. Around 900,000 people were displaced in Lebanon and 60,000 in northern Israel.

Since before dawn on Wednesday, displaced residents of southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and Bekaa, in the east of the country, Hezbollah strongholds, have taken the return road by the thousands, aboard overloaded cars and minibuses, mattresses and suitcases piled up on the roofs.

Back in Nabatiyé, in southern Lebanon, Ali Mazraani said he was “shocked by the massive destruction” of this city, which now seems “foreign”. “Despite the extent of the destruction and our pain, we are happy to have returned,” said Oum Mohamed Bzeih, a 44-year-old widow who found her house devastated in the village of Zebqine. “We feel reborn.”

Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, opened a “support” front for Hamas against Israel at the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered on October 7, 2023 by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement.

After months of exchanges of fire on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border, Israel launched a massive bombing campaign on the movement’s strongholds on September 23, followed by ground operations in southern Lebanon, claiming wanting to secure its northern border and allow the return of displaced people.

Under the agreement sponsored by the United States and France, the Israeli army has 60 days to gradually withdraw from Lebanon. Hezbollah must also retreat to the north of the Litani River, around thirty kilometers from the border, and dismantle its military infrastructure in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese army announced on Wednesday that it was beginning, “in coordination” with the UN peace force, UNIFIL, the strengthening of its presence in the south.

According to Lebanese authorities, at least 3,823 people have been killed in the country since October 2023, most since the end of September. On the Israeli side, 82 soldiers and 47 civilians died in 13 months, according to the authorities.

After more than a year of rushing to shelters as soon as the sirens sounded, residents of northern Israel enjoyed the newfound calm on Wednesday, but remained on their guard. In Nahariya, a coastal town within rocket range of Lebanese territory, Baha Arafat, a 44-year-old man, said he was relieved. “I feel much better now that I know there is a ceasefire,” he confided. “There is no shelter in the area and the last few days have been tense.”

“There is a feeling of greater security, our children can return to school,” said Yuri, 43, displaced from his kibbutz Yiron, near the border, to Haifa. But “we do not feel completely reassured,” because “Hezbollah still has strength,” he added.

According to Benjamin Netanyahu, the truce will allow Israel to “focus on the Iranian threat” and “intensify” its pressure on Hamas. Israel intends to “make all necessary efforts to create the conditions for a new exchange of hostages,” assured Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.

Two months before the end of his mandate, Joe Biden will renew his efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, by involving “Turkey, Qatar, Egypt and other actors in the region”, according to his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. A Hamas official told AFP on Wednesday that his movement was “ready for a ceasefire agreement” in Gaza.