BEIRUT: More than 640,000 displaced people in Lebanon have returned home, according to the International Organization for Migration, as clashes between Hezbollah and Israel have wound down following a deal to end the Middle East war.
Lebanon was drawn into the regional war on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and an invasion of southern Lebanon, where its troops still occupy swathes of territory.
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Israel’s military said on Friday it had struck several Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon a day earlier in response to attacks on its troops in the area.
Lebanese authorities say Israeli attacks have killed roughly 4,300 people and displaced over 1 million, particularly from southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
In a report on Thursday, the IOM said “646,107 IDPs or internally displaced people have begun returning to their communities,” while about 500,000 other people remain displaced, based on data collected in coordination with local authorities since June 22.
An agreement signed by Tehran and Washington last month established a ceasefire in Lebanon starting June 21.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have returned to their homes in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Lebanese authorities say they have worked to remove informal tent encampments in and around Beirut and reduce the number of official shelters.
But it remains impossible to return to dozens of towns and villages near the southern border, many of which have suffered massive destruction.
Israeli officials moreover vow their forces will remain in a “security zone” 10 km deep, despite the ceasefire.
Last week, Lebanon and Israel concluded a US-backed framework agreement aiming to pave the way for a permanent end to the war.
The agreement calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, and the deployment of the Lebanese army there — starting with two “pilot” areas.
However, the agreement — rejected by Hezbollah — does not set a timetable for Israeli withdrawal.
Instead, it makes Israeli withdrawal contingent on Hezbollah’s disarmament first, a tall order that experts say the Lebanese state cannot meet.
Israel’s military said on Friday it had struck several Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon a day earlier in response to attacks on its troops in the area.
Israeli forces “struck approximately 10 Hezbollah infrastructure sites and a truck used to transfer weapons in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.
The sites were in the areas of the south Lebanon towns of Bint Jbeil, Beit Yahoun, Kounine, and Baraachit, and “were used by Hezbollah to advance attacks against IDF soldiers operating in the Security Zone,” the army said.
The military said the strikes on the infrastructure sites were carried out following attacks on its soldiers inside the Israeli-declared “security zone.”
The military said the strike on the truck carrying weapons near the area was carried out to remove a threat to the soldiers.
The Lebanese news agency reported three Israeli strikes Thursday night, near the town of Baraachit in the Bint Jbeil area, and in Nabatiyeh Al-Fawqa.
The agency also reported two injuries in a strike on the town of Seddiqine near Tyre.
Netanyahu visited troops in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, vowing that his country’s forces would stay in the area as long as Hezbollah remained a threat.
