{"id":19332,"date":"2024-11-27T22:47:22","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T22:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19332"},"modified":"2024-11-27T22:47:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T22:47:22","slug":"displaced-lebanese-head-for-homes-as-fragile-truce-appears-to-hold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19332","title":{"rendered":"Displaced Lebanese head for homes as fragile truce appears to hold"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"BBCBBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Abu Ali with his family – they’re making their way back to the village of Houla near the border with Israel<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Early in the morning they grabbed what they could \u2013 bags with clothes, blankets, and mattresses \u2013 and headed south. <\/p>\n

Families who had been forced to flee because of the war did not wait to see if the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah would hold.<\/p>\n

Just hours after it came into effect they were driving back home on the main road from Beirut.<\/p>\n

Some waved the yellow and green flag of Hezbollah, others carried posters with images of the group\u2019s former leader Hassan Nasrallah, killed in an Israeli air strike two months ago.<\/p>\n

For many this was a moment of celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened is very good. This is a victory for the resistance,\u201d said Abu Ali, referring to the ceasefire that had been brokered by the US and France.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay God have mercy on our martyrs. The resistance is a source of honour and pride for us. Without its existence, there would be no homeland, no south, nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

His plan was to return to the village Houla, right next to the border. But Israeli troops were still there, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know whether our house is still standing or has been destroyed,\u201d Ali said. \u201cBut we\u2019ll go there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The 60-day ceasefire will see the gradual withdrawal of the Israeli military, and of Hezbollah fighters and weapons, from Lebanon\u2019s south.<\/p>\n

The Lebanese army said it was already strengthening its presence there, as part of the deployment of an additional 5,000 soldiers under the deal. Both Israel and Hezbollah have said they are ready to respond to any violations.<\/p>\n

The ceasefire is the main hope to bring an end to over a year of conflict, that intensified in September with widespread Israeli air strikes, assassinations of top Hezbollah officials and a ground invasion. <\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s stated goal was to move the group away from the border and stop the attacks on its northern communities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Long queues formed on the main routes towards southern Lebanon<\/figcaption><\/p>\n
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In Lebanon, more than one million people were displaced, mostly from Shia Muslim areas in the south, the eastern Bekka Valley and Dahieh in Beirut \u2013 which are essentially controlled by Hezbollah, the powerful militia and political party supported by Iran.<\/p>\n

They started to return despite warnings from Israeli and Lebanese authorities that it was not yet safe to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if the house is still intact or not, the important thing is that we are returning, thanks to the blood of our martyr, Nasrallah,\u201d said Fatma Balhas, who was travelling to the town of Seddiqine. <\/p>\n

Hezbollah-allied media also said this was a sign the group had been victorious in the war.<\/p>\n

Near Sidon, the first big city on the coast south of Beirut, cars drove on the opposite carriageway, as a traffic jam formed just outside a military checkpoint. <\/p>\n

Soldiers handed out leaflets telling people to not touch unexploded ordnance. \u201cDon\u2019t get close, don\u2019t touch it, report it immediately\u201d.<\/p>\n

As night fell on Wednesday the truce appeared to be holding, with UN chief Antonio Guterres describing it as the \u201cfirst ray of hope for peace amid the darkness of the past months\u201d.<\/p>\n

The war has devastated this country, and recovery will be long and difficult. And what will happen with Hezbollah is not clear. The group has been diminished, but it still enjoys significant support.<\/p>\n

For Lebanon, it means this crisis is not over.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Beirut resident returns home: “All is gone.”<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BBC Abu Ali with his family – they’re making their way back to the village of Houla near the border with Israel Early in the morning they grabbed what they could \u2013 bags with clothes, blankets, and mattresses \u2013 and headed south. Families who had been forced to flee because of the war did not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19332\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}