Israeli forces have killed 22 people in southern Lebanon as residents try to return, Lebanese authorities say
Israeli forces killed 22 people in southern Lebanon on Sunday as a deadline for their withdrawal expired and thousands tried to return to their homes in defiance of Israeli military orders, Lebanese authorities said.
Israel said on Friday it would keep troops in the south past a Sunday deadline set by a US-brokered ceasefire that halted last year’s war with Hezbollah, saying Lebanon had not yet fully implemented conditions requiring southern Lebanon to be free of Hezbollah’s weapons and The Lebanese army will be deployed.
The US-backed Lebanese army, which reported that one of its soldiers was among those killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, accused Israel of delaying the withdrawal.
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel was conducted in parallel with the war in Gaza, and culminated in a major Israeli offensive that expelled more than a million people in Lebanon and left the Iran-backed group severely weakened.
Lebanon’s health ministry said 22 people were killed and another 124 wounded in a number of locations in the south, as a result of what it described as Israeli attacks on citizens as they tried to enter their still-occupied towns.
Israel’s military said its troops “operating in southern Lebanon fired warning shots to eliminate threats in a number of areas where suspects were identified as approaching troops.” It also said that “a number of suspects … who posed an immediate threat” had been arrested.
Hezbollah’s al-Manar television, broadcasting from several locations in the south, showed footage of residents moving toward villages early Sunday, some holding the group’s flag and pictures of Hezbollah fighters killed in the war.
An Israeli army spokesman, addressing the people of southern Lebanon in a post on X, accused Hezbollah of trying to “heat the situation” and said the Israeli army would inform them “in the near future” of the places they can return to.
Hezbollah placed the responsibility on the Lebanese state to ensure Israel’s withdrawal.
Hezbollah spokesman Hassan Fadlallah said Lebanon was committed to the cease-fire agreement, but that Israel had turned against it with US support. The White House said on Friday that a short, temporary extension of the ceasefire was urgently needed.
A call to the Lebanese army to deploy in the villages
“What is happening in the border villages is liberation by the power of the people, and our people will not be crushed by the Israeli army,” he told Reuters. We want the state to play its full role, and the army to be deployed in the villages.
“We are working with him to facilitate his mission.”
The top UN official in Lebanon and the head of the UN peacekeeping force in the south said conditions “have not yet been established” for the safe return of Lebanese citizens to villages near the border. “The fact is that the deadlines stipulated” by the ceasefire “have not been met,” they said in a statement.
The agreement set a deadline of 60 days for implementation.
President Joseph Aoun, Commander of the Lebanese Army do the parliament elected him On January 9, the head of state called on people in the south to exercise self-restraint and trust the Lebanese army.
“Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are non-negotiable and I am following this issue at the highest levels to ensure your rights and dignity,” he said in a statement.
Israel has not said how long its forces will remain in the south, where the Israeli military says it is seizing Hezbollah’s weapons and dismantling its infrastructure.
Israel has said its offensive against Hezbollah is aimed at ensuring the return home of tens of thousands of Israelis who have been forced to flee their homes on the border by Hezbollah rocket fire.
Hezbollah opened fire in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas at the start of the Gaza war on October 8, 2023.
