Lebanese trickle home as truce with Israel mostly holds
A fragile calm prevailed in parts of Lebanon as a 10-day ceasefire brokered by the United States between Israel and Hezbollah came into force; Thousands of displaced families have begun their journey home, although their return has been marred by uncertainty, devastation and Israeli warnings against returning to parts of southern Lebanon.
Early Friday morning, cars were backed up for miles on the southbound route towards the damaged Qasmiyeh bridge over the Litani River, a key crossing connecting the southern coastal city of Tire to the north.
Vehicles filled with mattresses, suitcases and salvaged belongings moved along the single reopened lane, which had been hastily repaired following an Israeli airstrike just a day earlier.
The last Israel-Hezbollah war displaced more than a million people.
Despite warnings from Lebanese officials not to return home immediately, many people began moving towards Southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire was declared.
The ceasefire appeared likely to continue largely overnight.
In southern villages like Jibsheet, many residents have returned to flattened apartment blocks and streets littered with chunks of concrete, twisted aluminum shutters and dangling electrical cables.
“I feel free to go back,” said Zainab Fahas, 23. “But look, they destroyed everything: the square, the houses, the shops, everything.”
Many did not believe their ordeal was truly over.
“Israel does not want peace,” said Ali Wahdan, a 27-year-old doctor who walked with crutches over the rubble of the emergency center in Jibsheet.
He was seriously injured in an Israeli airstrike that hit the building without warning in the first week of the war.
“I wish it were different,” he said. “But this war will continue.”
In Haret Hreik, south of Beirut, all buildings were reduced to rubble after weeks of intense Israeli attacks.
Ahmed Lahham, 48, waved a yellow Hezbollah flag over the mountain of rubble that used to be his apartment building, which also houses a branch of Hezbollah’s financial arm Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
“We are in the service of the warriors,” Lahham said, pledging his loyalty to the group.
He praised Iran and condemned Lebanon’s direct talks with Israel, saying pressure on its negotiations with the United States led to a ceasefire.
A local government official in Haret Hreik said Israel had hit the neighborhood 62 times in the past six weeks.
“We managed to clear the rubble of partially damaged buildings, but we will need special equipment for the destroyed ones,” Sadek Slim, the neighborhood’s deputy mayor, said at a media briefing. he said.
The area was gridlocked with traffic, with people turning back to check on their homes and Hezbollah supporters using their scooters to wave the group’s flag.
