Israeli forces shot dead at least two people and wounded 17 on Monday in the second day of deadly protests in southern Lebanon, health officials said, as a 14-month truce between Israel and Hezbollah escalated. Residents displaced by the war tried to return to where Israeli soldiers tried to return. Remain.
The shooting came a day after 24 people were killed and more than 130 injured when Israeli forces opened fire on protesters who breached a roadblock along the border.
Under a cease-fire brokered by the United States on November 27, Israeli forces were to withdraw from southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah was to move to within 30 kilometers (20 mi) of the border north of the Litani River by January 26. was
While the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers had already deployed in several villages before the deadline, Israeli forces are present in more than a dozen villages.
The United States and Lebanon announced on Sunday that the deadline for meeting the terms of the ceasefire had been extended to February 18.
On Monday, protests resumed, particularly in eastern border villages where residents once again tried to return home.
Israeli soldiers opened fire, killing one person in the town of Odisha and wounding seven others in four southern villages, according to the health ministry.
The Israeli military has blamed Hezbollah for instigating the protests and said soldiers fired warning shots when they approached protesters.
In the village of Aitaroun on Monday, scores of unarmed residents, some waving Hezbollah flags, marched in hand or on motorcycles, supported by ambulances, bulldozers and Lebanese army tanks. They approach the edge of the town but are cut short by Israeli positions, unable to enter.
“We are coming with our heads up and crowned with the victory of our village, Itarun,” the head of the municipality, Salim Murd, told the Associated Press news agency. “Our village is ours, and we will bring it back more beautiful than ever. We are living.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israel dropped a bomb at the entrance to the southern village of Yaroun to prevent residents from moving further.
In the town of Bunt Jail, Hezbollah members handed out flyers featuring the slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli air strike in September, with the words: “Victory has come.” Some residents waved Hezbollah flags.
“They think they are scaring us with their bullets, but we lived under bombardment, and bullets don’t scare us,” Mona Bazi told AFP news agency in Bint Jebel.
Reporting from Lebanon’s capital Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khoder said the protests were a show of defiance by Hezbollah and its supporters.
“Hezbollah has been severely weakened by the war of the past year, but this was a message from the group that it has not been destroyed and that it still has influence in this country,” he said.
The NNA reported on Monday that Lebanese “army reinforcements” had arrived near Mes al-Jabal, a border town where residents had gathered to enter alongside the army.
The news agency added that Israeli forces “fired on the direction of the Lebanese army” near Mas al-Jabal, although no casualties were reported.
“We waited in a long line for hours but couldn’t get in,” 33-year-old Mohammad Choukir told AFP from Mes al-Jabal, adding that Israeli forces had intermittently fired at civilians gathered at the town’s entrance. are doing
In Houla, where the Ministry of Health confirmed two injuries, NNA reported that residents were able to enter after the Lebanese army deployed to several neighborhoods.
Both sides have traded accusations of delaying the implementation of the agreement.
Israel accused the Lebanese army of not deploying to the region fast enough, while the Lebanese army accused Israel of blocking its withdrawal, complicating its deployment efforts.
On Sunday, the Lebanese army confirmed that it had entered several border areas, including Dhira, Maroun al-Ras, and Ita al-Shabab.
Some family members who entered the border villages on Sunday discovered the dead bodies of their relatives. More than 4,000 people were killed in Israeli attacks during the war.
Since the cease-fire began, Israel has carried out near-daily operations such as house demolitions, shelling and airstrikes in southern Lebanon, accusing Hezbollah of trying to break the ceasefire by moving weapons. Violation of the terms of Lebanon, in turn, has accused Israel of hundreds of ceasefire violations.
Israeli military spokesman Avche Edre called on residents of southern Lebanon on Monday to “wait” before returning.
Hilal Khoshn, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said he did not expect a resurgence of major violence.
“Hezbollah does not want any more confrontation with Israel. Its goal is to protect its gains in Lebanon,” he told AFP.
