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At least 15 people were killed and more than 80 injured by Israeli forces on Sunday in southern Lebanon, Lebanese officials said, as the 60-day deadline for both Hezbollah and Israel to withdraw from the south expired and thousands of Lebanese displaced by the war poured onto roads leading south back to their homes.<\/p>\n
The agreement<\/a>, which was signed in November and halted the deadliest war in decades between the two sides, stipulated that both Hezbollah and Israel withdraw, while the Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers would be deployed in force to secure the area. Negotiators had hoped the cease-fire deal would become permanent, returning a measure of calm to a turbulent region.<\/p>\n But as the deadline passed on Sunday, a very different scenario was taking shape.<\/p>\n Israeli forces remained in parts of southern Lebanon in violation of the cease-fire agreement, stoking fears of a sustained Israeli occupation and renewed hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. Israeli officials warned Lebanese not to return to their homes in many towns and villages in the south.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the near future, we will continue to inform you about the places to which you can return,\u201d Avichai Adraee, the Arabic spokesman of the Israeli military, posted on social media on Sunday morning. \u201cUntil further notice, all previously published instructions remain in effect.\u201d<\/p>\n Lebanon\u2019s Health Ministry said that those killed and injured on Sunday morning had been trying to enter their villages along the border when they were attacked by Israeli forces. Residents of some southern towns had called for their neighbors to gather early Sunday morning and head to their homes in a convoy, despite the warnings from Israel. The Lebanese military said it was accompanying civilians returning to several border towns to try to ensure their safety. The military said in a statement that a Lebanese soldier was among those killed by Israeli fire.<\/p>\n It marked one of the deadliest days in Lebanon since the cease-fire came into effect in November.<\/p>\n The Israeli military said in a statement that it had fired \u201cwarning shots\u201d after what it described as \u201csuspects\u201d approached their forces. It also said that an unspecified number of people had been arrested and were now being questioned at the scene.<\/p>\n In the southern town of Aita al-Shaab, much of which now lies in ruin<\/a>, many <\/span>began streaming back to their homes on Sunday, arriving to rubble-strewed streets and flattened buildings.<\/p>\n Mohamed Srour, the town\u2019s mayor, was among those returning after being displaced for more than a year. He said that Israeli soldiers had not yet fully withdrawn from the town and claimed that they were firing sporadically at civilians. The claims could not be independently verified. Still, Mr. Srour remained resolute.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, Aita is celebrating the long-awaited return.\u201d he said. \u201cThe houses are destroyed and the livelihood is gone, but our will to live is stronger. We will build again.\u201d<\/p>\n In recent days, Israeli officials have cited concerns<\/a> that Hezbollah remains active in southern Lebanon and doubts about the Lebanese Army\u2019s ability to stymie the<\/a> group.<\/p>\n Those claims could not be independently verified, and the five-member committee overseeing the implementation of the cease-fire has not publicly released any information regarding Hezbollah\u2019s compliance with the terms of the truce.<\/p>\n The situation poses a critical test for Lebanon\u2019s new leaders, President Joseph Aoun<\/a> and Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam<\/a>, as they seek to wrest back some political control from Hezbollah, the country\u2019s dominant political and military force, and build a functioning state. Mr. Aoun urged civilians to exercise restraint on Sunday, but stressed that the country\u2019s sovereignty was \u201cnonnegotiable.\u201d<\/p>\n Any prolonged Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon could breathe new life into Hezbollah, a group that was founded to liberate Lebanon from Israeli occupation and that has portrayed itself as the only force capable of protecting Lebanon\u2019s borders, experts say.<\/p>\n It also threatens to derail the current political momentum in Lebanon, where for the first time in decades there is a serious push to consolidate all military power within the state and do away with Hezbollah\u2019s justification for its vast arsenal.<\/p>\n The focus in Lebanon now is toward \u201cdisarming Hezbollah and transitioning from the era in which Hezbollah was seen as having the right to acquire weapons,\u201d said Mohanad Hage Ali, the deputy director for research at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, the Lebanese capital. Any prolonged Israeli occupation \u201cwould put the breaks on that momentum, which is happening organically,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Hezbollah officials did not respond to Israel\u2019s accusations that the group remained militarily active in southern Lebanon, but said that they were \u201ccommitted\u201d to upholding the terms of the truce.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Lebanese Army officials said they were prepared to complete their deployment in the south.This month, the American general overseeing the cease-fire monitoring committee expressed confidence in the Lebanese Army\u2019s ability to secure southern Lebanon. The army continues to demonstrate that \u201cit has the capability, intent and leadership to secure and defend Lebanon,\u201d Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 60-day truce took effect more than a year after Hezbollah began firing rockets toward Israeli positions in solidarity with its ally Hamas, the Palestinian militant group in Gaza that led the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Israel retaliated by assassinating Hezbollah\u2019s leadership<\/a>, leveling towns and villages along the border and invading southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n Even before Sunday\u2019s deadline, thousands of Lebanese who were displaced by the war from homes along the southern border were preparing to return home. On Saturday, the main highway leading from Beirut to southern Lebanon was packed with cars, even as people received automated phone calls from the Israeli military warning them not to return home.<\/p>\n Israeli forces appeared to be continuing efforts that persisted during the 60-day truce to bulldoze and block roads between some villages in southern Lebanon, according to local news media. Israel currently occupies roughly 70 percent of the areas that it captured after invading Lebanon last fall, according to the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hezbollah has not said how it plans to respond to Israel\u2019s continued occupation of Lebanese soil. Some Hezbollah lawmakers have vowed retaliation. But other officials from Hezbollah <\/span>instead shifted responsibility for responding to Israel to the Lebanese government. The group\u2019s statement on Friday said that it was up to the state \u201cto reclaim the land and wrest it from the grip of the occupation.\u201d<\/p>\n That shifting of responsibility is a tried-and-true tactic for Hezbollah, which just a few months ago had called on the state to provide for thousands of Lebanese displaced by a war it had pulled the country into. Still, the political posturing from a group whose founding principle is resisting Israeli occupation reflects Hezbollah\u2019s current weakened state.<\/p>\n After 14 months of fighting, the Shiite Muslim group\u2019s military ranks are battered, and its loyal support base is weary. Its patron Iran has also been weakened by Israel.And in neighboring Syria, rebels toppled an Iran ally, the dictator Bashar al-Assad, cutting off Hezbollah\u2019s land bridge for receiving weapons and cash from Iran.<\/p>\n These blows have loosened Hezbollah\u2019s once iron grasp on political power in Lebanon, shifting the country\u2019s political sands for the first time in decades. This month, Lebanese lawmakers elected a new president, Mr. Aoun, after years of political gridlock that many analysts had attributed to Hezbollah. Days later, lawmakers named Mr. Salam, a prominent diplomat whom Hezbollah had long opposed, as prime minister.<\/p>\n Still, Middle East experts have warned against writing off Hezbollah\u2019s political weight. And if Israel continues to occupy Lebanon, it could revitalize the group\u2019s mostly Shiite Muslim support base as it looks for a patron and protector against Israeli forces.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe neither parties have an interest in resuming the war,\u201d said Sami Nader, the director of the Institute of Political Science at Saint Joseph University of Beirut. \u201cBut as long as Israel is occupying Lebanon, it\u2019s reviving the narrative of Hezbollah.\u201d<\/p>\n Hwaida Saad, Dayana Iwaza and Sara Chaito contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n