Israeli forces kill 22 people in south Lebanon as residents try to return, Lebanese authorities say By Reuters

By Leila Bassam and Alexander Cornwell

BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed 22 people in southern Lebanon on Sunday as an evacuation deadline passed 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 beyond a Sunday deadline set in a US-brokered ceasefire that ended last year’s war with Hezbollah, saying Lebanon had not yet fully implemented conditions requiring southern Lebanon to be free. Hezbollah’s weapons and ceasefire: The Lebanese army will be deployed.

The US-backed Lebanese army, which said one of its soldiers was among those killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, blamed Israel for the delay.

The Hezbollah-Israel conflict ran parallel to the Gaza war and culminated in a major Israeli offensive that uprooted more than a million people in Lebanon and left the Iranian-backed group severely weakened.

Lebanon’s health ministry said 22 people were killed and 124 others wounded in multiple locations in the south, following Israeli attacks on civilians as they tried to enter their still-occupied towns.

The Israeli army said its troops “fired warning shots in southern Lebanon to eliminate threats in a number of areas where the suspects approached the troops.” It also said “a number of suspects who posed an immediate threat” were arrested are

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television, which broadcasts from several locations in the south, showed footage of residents moving into villages early Sunday morning, some holding the group’s flag and images of Hezbollah fighters killed in the war.

An Israeli military spokesman, in a post on X, accused the people of southern Lebanon of trying to “inflame the situation” and said the Israeli army would inform them of places they could return to in the “near future”.

Hezbollah has put the onus on the Lebanese state to ensure Israel’s withdrawal.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said Lebanon was committed to the cease-fire agreement, but Israel backed out of the U.S. On Friday, the White House said a short, temporary ceasefire extension was urgently needed.

THE PRESIDENT URGES SOUTHERNS TO TRUST THE ARMY

“What is happening in the border villages is liberation by the power of the people, and our people will not be broken 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 cooperating with him to facilitate his mission.”

A senior UN official in Lebanon and the head of UN peacekeepers in the south said that the conditions “are not yet in place” for the safe return of Lebanese citizens to the border villages. “The fact is that the ceasefire deadlines have not been met,” they said in a statement.

The agreement stipulated a 60-day deadline for implementation.

President Joseph Aoun, commander of Lebanon’s army until parliament elected him head of state on January 9, called on the people of the south to show restraint and trust in the Lebanese military.

“Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are non-negotiable, and I am following this issue at the highest level 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 securing the return 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.