In the second day of deadly protests in southern Lebanon, Israeli forces shot and killed at least two people and injured 17 others, according to health officials as residents who had been displaced by Israel’s 14-month conflict attempted to reclaim their homes where Israeli soldiers are still living.
When Israeli troops opened fire on protesters who broke through border crossing roadblocks, 24 people were killed and more than 130 were hurt.
Under a United States-brokered ceasefire on November 27, Israeli forces were to withdraw from southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah was to move north of the Litani River, about 30km (20 miles) from the border, by January 26.
Israeli forces are still present in more than a dozen villages despite the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers having already arrived before the deadline.
The deadline for implementing the ceasefire terms was extended to February 18 as announced by the US and Lebanon on Sunday.
On Monday, protests resumed, particularly in eastern border villages, where residents once more made home-strike attempts.
According to the Health Ministry, Israeli troops opened fire in four southern villages, injuring one person and injuring seven others.
Hezbollah has been blamed by the Israeli military for escalating protests, and soldiers have claimed to have opened fire at demonstrators.
In the village of Aitaroun on Monday, scores of unarmed residents, some waving Hezbollah flags, marched hand in hand or rode motorcycles, escorted by ambulances, bulldozers and Lebanese army tanks. They sped away from Israeli positions as they approached the town’s edge, but they were unable to enter.
“We are coming with our heads held high and crowned with victory to our village, Aitaroun”, Saleem Mrad, head of the municipality, told the Associated Press news agency. We will restore our village to its former splendor, saying, “Our village is ours.” We are staying”.
Israel reportedly dropped a bomb at the village of Yaroun in southern Lebanon in order to deter residents from continuing their journey, according to the official state-run newspaper National News Agency (NNA).
In the town of Bint Jbeil, Hezbollah members handed out flyers featuring slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air strike in September, with the words: “Victory has arrived”. Hezbollah flags were waved by some residents.
“They think they are scaring us with their bullets, but we lived under the bombing, and bullets don’t scare us”, Mona Bazzi told the AFP news agency in Bint Jbeil.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Lebanon’s capital Beirut, said the protests are a show of defiance by Hezbollah and its supporters.
She said that although the organization had been severely damaged by the conflict last year, it still has influence in this nation.
THe NNA reported on Monday that Lebanese “army reinforcements” had arrived near Meiss el-Jabal, a border town where residents had gathered to enter alongside the military.
No injuries were reported, despite the news agency’s claim that Israeli forces “opened fire in the direction of the Lebanese army” close to Meiss el-Jabal.
“We waited in a long line for hours but couldn’t enter”, Mohammed Choukeir, 33, told AFP from Meiss el-Jabal, noting that Israeli troops were intermittently firing at civilians gathered at the town’s entrance.
The Lebanese army deployed across several neighborhoods in Hula, where the Health Ministry confirmed two injuries, and the NNA reported that residents had managed to enter.
The implementation of the agreement has been accused by both parties of stalling it.
Israel claimed that Israel had delayed its withdrawal and that its deployment efforts had been hampered by the Lebanese military’s inability to move quickly.
On Sunday, the Lebanese army confirmed it had entered several border areas, including Dhayra, Maroun al-Ras, and Aita al-Shaab.
Some family members found their relatives’ bodies in border villages on Sunday. More than 4, 000 people were killed in Israeli-caused attacks.
Israel has engaged in near-daily operations in southern Lebanon since the ceasefire began, including shelling homes and airstrikes, while accusing Hezbollah of breaking the ceasefire terms by attempting to move weapons. Israel has been charged by Lebanon with hundreds of ceasefire violations.
Avichay Adraee, an spokesman for the Israeli military, called on southern Lebanon residents to “wait” before returning on Monday.
According to Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, major violence is not expected to reappear again.
Source: Aljazeera
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