Lebanese try again to return to southern border villages

BURJ AL MULUK: South Lebanon residents accompanied by the army tried to return to their villages on Monday, official media and AFP correspondents reported, a day after Israeli fire killed more than 20 people in the area.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that Lebanon had agreed to an extension of the ceasefire deal between Hezbollah and Israel until February 18, after the Israeli military missed Sunday’s deadline to withdraw.

An AFP correspondent saw dozens of vehicles carrying families headed towards border towns on Monday, a day after hundreds of residents tried unsuccessfully to return to their south Lebanon homes.

In the village of Burj al-Muluk, an AFP photographer saw dozens of men, women and children gathering in the morning behind a dirt barrier, some holding yellow Hezbollah flags, hoping to reach the border town of Kfar Kila, where the Israeli military is still deployed.

Israeli forces kill 15 in south Lebanon on pullout deadline

In the city of Bint Jbeil, an access point for many border villages, Hezbollah supporters were distributing sweets, water and images of former chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike in September.

Others handed out stickers celebrating the “victory from God” as women held pictures of slain Hezbollah fighters.

The official National News Agency said that Lebanese “army reinforcements” had arrived near the border town of Mais al-Jabal, where people had started to gather at “the entrance of the town” in preparation for entering alongside the military.

It said the Israeli army had “opened fire in the direction of the Lebanese army” near the town, without reporting casualties.

In the nearby town of Hula, the agency said residents entered “after the deployment of the army in several neighbourhoods”.

Under the ceasefire deal that took effect on November 27, the Lebanese military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that ended on Sunday.

Both sides have traded blame for delays in implementing the deal, which came after more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of all-out war.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee on Monday called again for south Lebanon residents to “wait” before returning.

The Lebanese army said Sunday it would “continue to accompany residents” returning to the south and “protect them from Israeli attacks”.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Sunday that Israeli forces opened fire on “citizens who were trying to return to their villages”, killing at least 22 people including a soldier.

The Israeli military said troops “fired warning shots to remove threats” where “suspects were identified approaching the troops”.