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 three people according to Lebanese authorities.
AFP correspondents saw convoys of dozens of cars, brandishing the yellow flags of Lebanese Hezbollah, converging on several villages devastated by the war between the pro-Iranian formation and the Israeli army.
Under the agreement that ended the war on November 27, the Israeli army was to complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon on Sunday, but Israel announced Friday that the operation would continue beyond the deadline of January 26.
The Israeli army fired in several border towns on “citizens who were trying to return to their villages”, leaving three people dead and 44 injured, according to the Ministry of Health.
An AFP correspondent saw dozens of residents of the border town of Maïss al-Jabal heading on foot towards the devastated village, where the Israeli army is still stationed.
They held up portraits of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel at the end of September, and women in black carried photos of their loved ones killed in the war.
“We will come back”
“We will return to our villages and the Israeli enemy will leave, even if it will cost us martyrs,” Ali Harb, a 27-year-old young man who was trying to return to the devastated village of Kfarkila, told AFP. .
In another border village, Maroun al-Ras, images broadcast by local channels showed Lebanese soldiers and men waving flags of Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal movement, a few meters from an Israeli tank.
The war between Israel and pro-Iranian Hezbollah had forced 900,000 people in Lebanon to flee their homes and left more than 4,000 dead according to Lebanese authorities.
Under the agreement that ended it, only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers are now to be deployed in southern Lebanon.
For its part, Hezbollah must withdraw its forces north of the Litani River, around 30 kilometers from the border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
-Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on residents to show “cold-bloodedness” and to “have confidence in the Lebanese army”, “anxious to ensure your safe return to your homes and villages”.
The Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, had called on southerners in a statement on X to “wait” before returning. “Don’t allow Hezbollah to come back and use you (..),” he said.
From the border village of Aïta al-Chaab, Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah welcomed in a statement to the local channel al-Jadeed “the return of residents despite Israeli threats and warnings”.
Call to the sponsors of the agreement
For his part, 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” .
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Friday that the withdrawal of Israeli forces would continue beyond the January 26 deadline, “as the ceasefire agreement has not been fully accomplished by Lebanon.”
The Israeli army withdrew its forces from the coastal sector of southern Lebanon but remained in areas further east.
President Joseph Aoun had underlined during a telephone interview with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron “the need to force Israel to respect the provisions of the agreement in order to preserve stability in the south”, the Lebanese presidency indicated on Saturday.
A monitoring mechanism bringing together France, the United States, Lebanon, Israel and the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was set up to monitor the implementation of the agreement.
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 truce is also in force, 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, including killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah.
