AFP Videos – France
In southern Lebanon, the city of Naqoura devastated after the Israeli withdrawal
Between the devastated houses and the abandoned orchards, any sign of life has disappeared from the city of Naqoura, plunged into silence when approaching the deadline for the withdrawal of the Israeli army from southern Lebanon. Patrol now in the ruins of this ghost city, border of Israel, which the Israeli forces left on January 6, leaving behind immense destruction. By virtue of the agreement which ended on November 27 to two months War between Hezbollah and Israel, only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers can now be deployed in southern Lebanon, from where the Israeli army must have completed its withdrawal on January 26. Now evacuated the entire coastal region of southern Lebanon, but still occupies areas further east. “It will take us at least three years to rebuild”: Abbas Awada, the mayor of Naqoura, could come to discover the extended to destruction, while the inhabitants have not yet been allowed to return for security reasons. “Naqoura is a victimized city (…) the most basic living conditions anymore,” laments -Al, in front of the devastated town hall. “When the army entered there after the ceasefire”, “35% of the town was destroyed, now the destruction concerns 90%” of Naqoura, he said to AFP. He claims that the Israeli army has destroyed the “dynamite and bulldozer” buildings. But as we advance in the deserted city, the houses are completely devastated, in the midst of banana plantations that rot and citrus orchards that no one has picked up. Lebanese soldiers patrol School and ripped houses that reveal a wardrobe or a kitchen. A still standing wall has an inscription in Hebrew. The soldiers, who deployed in Naqoura from the Israeli withdrawal, discover a huge shell that has not exploded. A putrid smell fleets on the city, where the rescuers still withdrew two bodies from the rubble. – Hezbollah flags – The exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza, in October 2023, turned to a two-month open war in September 2024. War, the Hezbollah pro-Iranian must withdraw its forces the region. But despite the entry into force of the truce, the Israeli army regularly leads strikes, claiming to target Hezbollah, and the Lebanese state media accuse him of carrying out dynamics in the still occupied villages. By the AFP office in Jerusalem, an Israeli army spokesman said that it “remains attached” to the truce and “continues to operate in accordance with the agreements concluded between Israel and Lebanon”. Road leading to Naqoura, Hezbollah flags float in the wind, but no presence of its activists is visible. The ending patrol in the sector, and the army, posted to the dam which controls access to the locality, prohibited for Civil cars to enter it, with rare exceptions.- “We want a solution” – 20 kilometers further north, Fatima Yazbeck is impatiently waits, in a reception center in Tire, to be able to go home. She fled Naqoura over 15 months ago. “Since then, I have not returned to it, I do not know what happened there,” said this 61 -year -old widow, telling how sad to learn that her house had been destroyed. As she, as she, Ali Mehdi, a volunteer from the reception center, says that his house was destroyed. “My house had been just damaged at first (…) but after the truce, the Israelis entered Naqoura and destroyed the houses, The orchards and roads, “says this 45-year-old man. His side, Moustapha al-Sayed, 54, has been waiting with his large family for more than a year from being able to return to his southern village, Beit Lif. Already in 2006, he had been forced to flee during the previous war between Hezbollah and Israel. “Should we take our families and flee every 20 years?” He protested. “We want a final solution, we want the wars to end” .lk/at/sg
