Hundreds of residents of southern Lebanon brave the Israeli army

Hundreds of residents of southern Lebanon braved the Israeli army on Sunday and tried to return to their villages, some still occupied by Israeli forces who opened fire in their direction, killing 22 people according to Lebanese authorities.

Correspondents of theAFP saw convoys of dozens of cars, brandishing the yellow flags of Lebanese Hezbollah, converge on several villages devastated by the war between the pro-Iranian formation, which emerged weakened, and the Israeli army.

The Israeli army delays its withdrawal from the south of the country

Under the agreement which ended two months of open war on November 27, only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers can now be deployed in southern Lebanon, from where the Israeli army was to have completed its withdrawal on January 26.

But Israel announced Friday that the withdrawal operation would continue beyond this deadline, believing that the agreement has not been fully implemented by Lebanon.

The Israeli army fired in several border towns on citizens who tried to return to their villagesleaving 22 dead, including a Lebanese soldier and six women, and 124 injured, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

For its part, the Israeli army indicated that its soldiers had fired warning shots to eliminate threats in several areas where suspects were seen approaching troopsadding to have apprehended suspects Who constituted an imminent threat.

The peacekeepers, who considered that the conditions for the return of the inhabitants were not not yet uniteddeclared that he was imperative to avoid any further deterioration of the situation and called on the Israeli army to avoid shooting civilians in Lebanese territory.

Hundreds of residents on the move

An AFP correspondent saw hundreds of residents in the town of Bint Jbeil gathering on the main street to pray in a religious ceremony, before heading in procession to neighboring villages.

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According to him, dozens of residents of the border town of Maïss al-Jabal were heading on foot towards the devastated village, where the Israeli army is still deployed.

They held up portraits of the former Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel at the end of September, and photos of their relatives who perished in the war between Israel and Hezbollah which had forced 900,000 people in Lebanon to the escape and left more than 4,000 dead according to the Lebanese authorities.

We will return to our villages, and the Israeli enemy will leave, even if it will cause martyrsAli Harb, a 27-year-old young man who was trying to return to the devastated village of Kfarkila, told AFP.

Images broadcast by local channels showed, in another border village, Maroun al-Ras, Lebanese soldiers and men waving flags of Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal movement, a few meters from an Israeli tank.

Along with the Israeli withdrawal, the agreement calls for Hezbollah to withdraw its forces north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometers from the border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

The Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, had called on southerners on X to to wait for before returning. Do not allow Hezbollah to come back and use you […]he said.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on residents to show song-joy and to have confidence in the Lebanese army, anxious to ensure your safe return to your homes and villages.

THE sponsors of the agreement invited to put pressure on Israel

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For his part, the Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, called on Sunday the sponsors of the ceasefire agreement to assume their responsibilities […] and to force the Israeli enemy to withdraw from the territories it occupies.

A monitoring mechanism involving France, the United States, Lebanon, Israel and the Blue Helmets was set up to monitor the implementation of the agreement.

French President Emmanuel Macron asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a telephone interview to withdraw its forces still present in Lebanonannounced the Élysée.

Il insisted to the Prime Minister on the importance that nothing compromise the efforts of the new Lebanese authorities to restore State authority throughout the territoryadded the same source.

This is the most serious development since the election of a new internationally-backed president, Joseph Aoun, in Lebanon on January 9.

The Israeli army withdrew its forces from the coastal sector of southern Lebanon, but remained in areas further east.

Claiming to act in support of its ally Hamas, Hezbollah opened a front against Israel the day after the attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil, on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip, where a fragile truce has also been in effect since January 19.

This front degenerated into open war last September, with Israel bombing the capital, Beirut, and inflicting several hard blows on the powerful Lebanese movement.