Some Israeli soldiers and tanks return to Israel from Lebanon after a ceasefire with Hezbollah, in Upper Galilee, northern Israel, in early December. File photo by Atef Safadi/EPA-EFE
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 26 (UPI) — Israeli forces killed 15 people and wounded 80 others Sunday when displaced residents of southern Lebanon defied Israel’s decision not to withdraw from border villages and tried to return home.
The civilians acted after the cease-fire’s 60-day deadline expired at dawn, the Lebanese Army and Health Ministry said.
Thousands of those from the south, who were displaced during the 14-month Hezbollah-Israel war that ended with a U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal Nov. 27, flocked in convoys starting in the early morning to their towns and villages still occupied by Israeli forces in various areas of southern Lebanon.
They tried to force their way to reach their mostly destroyed homes and villages despite warnings from Israeli Army spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee to keep away.
Israeli forces opened fire on the crowd, some of whom were holding Hezbollah flags and pictures of the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and fighters who were killed during the war.
The Health Ministry said 15 people, including a woman and an army soldier, were killed and 80 others wounded.
Israel maintained its troops in southern Lebanon despite reaching the 60 day-deadline for leaving that expired at dawn.
Israel has requested a 30-day extension, arguing that the Lebanese Army has been slow in redeploying, while Hezbollah still maintains its weapons infrastructure and forces in areas prohibited by the agreement.
A five-member committee, led by the United States and overseeing implementation of the cease-fire, failed to confirm the Israeli claims or provide information on Hezbollah’s compliance.
The Lebanese Army has blamed Israel for the slow process, saying it came as result of its “procrastination” in completing withdrawal of its troops.
Under the accord, Hezbollah must end its military presence and withdraw to south of the Litani River, while Israeli forces should pull out completely to pave the way for the Lebanese Army to deploy and take control of the area within the 60-day period now expired.
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging accusations of violating the terms of the cease-fire deal and warning that the truce could collapse.
Before the deadline arrived, Israel kept bombarding targets in southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as demolishing houses and bulldozing border towns. The Israelis also prevented residents from returning to their villages.
The war, which killed or wounded more than 20,000 people in Lebanon and displaced some 1.2 million, resulted in widespread destruction of villages, property, hospitals and schools in Beirut’s southern suburbs and in southern and eastern Lebanon.
The Lebanese Army, which has been deploying in areas evacuated by the Israeli forces since the cease-fire accord, said in a statement Sunday that its troops were accompanying inhabitants returning to their towns “while the Israeli enemy continues to violate Lebanon’s sovereignty and refuses to abide by the cease-fire agreement and pulls out” from Lebanese territories it has recently occupied.
The Army said it entered more villages Sunday and called on the returning Lebanese to exercise “self-restraint” and follow its instructions for their own safety.
“This is our land, and we will not abandon it,” a woman in the Kfar Kila village said to a local TV station. “We have been waiting for 60 days; Israelis did not evacuate, and we want to return to our homes and land.”
President Jospeh Aoun called on the returning Lebanese to “trust the Lebanese armed forces, which are eager” to protect the country’s sovereignty and “secure your safe return to your homes and towns.”
House Speaker Nabih Berri, who negotiated the cease-fire deal on behalf of his Hezbollah ally, called on the international community and the countries sponsoring the cease-fire agreement “to take immediate and urgent action to compel Israel to withdraw immediately.”
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati warned that the failure to abide by the provisions of the cease-fire agreement and implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 “will have dire consequences.”
U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and peacekeeping Commander Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro urged in a joint statement that Israel and Lebanon recommit to the cease-fire agreement, saying that “conditions are not yet in place for the safe return of citizens to their villages.”
The statement said the Lebanese Armed Forces “have shown resolve in deploying to positions” evacuated by the Israeli Army.
The 10,251-member United Nations peacekeeping forces, UNIFIL, which has been assisting the Lebanese Army in restoring stability to the southern region, stressed that it was “imperative” to avoid further deterioration of the situation.
UNIFIL said in a separate statement that the Israeli Army “must avoid firing at civilians,” warning that “further violence risks undermining the fragile security situation in the area and prospects for stability.”