At least two people were killed and 31 injured by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon on Sunday, 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 into roads leading south back to their homes.
The agreement, which was signed in November, stipulated that both Hezbollah and Israel withdraw their forces from southern Lebanon, while the Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers would be deployed to secure the area. If the truce held, negotiators hoped the agreement would become permanent, returning a measure of calm to a turbulent region and bringing a close to Lebanon’s deadliest war in decades.
But as the deadline passed on Sunday, a very different scenario was taking shape.
Israeli forces remained in parts of southern Lebanon, stoking fears among Lebanese of a sustained Israeli occupation and renewed hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. And Israeli officials were warning Lebanese not to return to their homes in many towns and villages in southern Lebanon.
“In the near future, we will continue to inform you about the places to which you can return,” Avichai Adraee, the Arabic spokesman of the Israeli military, posted on social media Sunday morning. “Until further notice, all previously published instructions remain in effect.”
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that those injured on Sunday morning had been trying to enter their villages along the border when they encountered Israeli attacks. 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 Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The situation poses a critical test for Lebanon’s new leaders, President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam, as they seek to wrestle back political control from Hezbollah, the country’s dominant political and military force.
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