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Thousands of Lebanese return to their homes
Thousands of Lebanese displaced by the war between Israel and Hizbollah fighters returned home on Wednesday as a ceasefire took hold, driving cars stacked with personal belongings and defying warnings from Lebanese and Israeli troops to avoid some areas.
If it endures, the ceasefire would end nearly 14 months of fighting between Israel and Hizbollah, which escalated in mid-September into all-out war and threatened to pull Hizbollah’s patron, Iran, and Israel’s closest ally, the United States, into a broader conflagration.
The deal does not address the war in Gaza, where Israeli strikes overnight on two schools-turned-shelters in Gaza City killed 11 people, including four children, according to hospital officials. Israel said one strike targeted a Hamas sniper and the other targeted fighters hiding among civilians.
The truce in Lebanon could give reprieve to the 1.2 million Lebanese displaced by the fighting and the tens of thousands of Israelis who fled their homes along the border.
“They were a nasty and ugly 60 days,” said Mohammed Kaafarani, 59, who was displaced from the Lebanese village of Bidias. “We reached a point where there was no place to hide.”
The US – and France-brokered deal, approved by Israel late Tuesday, calls for an initial two-month halt to fighting and requires Hizbollah to end its armed presence in southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops are to return to their side of the border.
Thousands of additional Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor compliance.
Israel says it reserves the right to strike Hizbollah should it violate the terms of the deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said troops arrested four Hizbollah operatives, including a local commander, who had entered what it referred to as a restricted area. It said troops have been ordered to prevent people from returning to villages near the border.
Associated Press