Israeli forces are stationed in southern Lebanon

The Israeli army has carried out more than 500 operations across southern Lebanon during the past two months since it agreed to a ceasefire with Hezbollah, and the locals are preparing for further destruction while the Israeli forces are planning to postpone their withdrawal.

Israel has launched regular attacks since the ceasefire with the Lebanese Armed Community entered into force on November 27, more than a year after the conflict.

The non -profit organization has counted 515 operations from the start of the ceasefire until January 17. These include air strikes and drones, as well as more than 206 property destruction in 39 villages. At least 37 people were killed, according to the statistics of the Financial Times.

Under the armistice, Israel is scheduled to withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip by Sunday Lebanon Hezbollah had to transfer its weapons north of the Litani River, which extends for a distance of up to 30 kilometers from the fait accompli, to be replaced by the Lebanese armed forces. But the Israeli government said on Friday that its forces will remain in Lebanon after the deadline, and officials discuss the extension for 30 days.

For the residents of the Lebanese border societies – many of whom were unable to return – the possibility of the Israeli occupation continues to make them not sure about when they can return to their homes, and what they will find when they do so.

“They took advantage of the opportunity to provide a ceasefire,” said Mohamed Sorour, the mayor of Aita Al -Shaab, about the Israeli destruction in his border village. He added, “Before the ceasefire, they were bombing artillery and air strikes. But after the ceasefire, they entered the village on the ground, and the largest part of the destruction occurred after that.

The patience of some villagers began to run out and think about returning on Sunday, regardless of the risks. “What is happening is happening,” said Naguib Hussein Halawi, the local official in Kafrkla, another society whose population was going on. “There is a lot of danger, but what can you do? Sit there and silence?”

Israeli officials say their actions are compatible with the ceasefire agreement, and they are continuing to work because Hezbollah still has elements and infrastructure in the region, while the Lebanese army has not yet spread in sufficient numbers to remove the militants.

Because he was unable to return to his village, Sorour resorted to the north, but he remained in contact with his family and friends who returned to inspect the damage.

He said about the village, which is still under the Israeli occupation near the border, the “Blue Line” drawn by the United Nations, which separates the two countries: “Aita is a disaster.” He added that most of the houses were damaged, and the infrastructure was bulldozed and everything was erased from worship to schools from the map.

Hezbollah warned Israel from testing its “patience” and last month fired missiles towards Israeli sites in the disputed Shebaa farms area because of what it described as “repeated” violations of the ceasefire.

The new Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said this month, “The bombing of homes and the destruction of border villages is completely contradictory to the ceasefire.” The United Nations Peacekeeping Force described this month that Israel was bulldozing a watchdog of the Lebanese army and a United Nations border brand as a “flagrant violation”.

The Israeli army has not responded to the request to comment on its operations since the ceasefire. But on Thursday said that Hezbollah used Aita “to store weapons and as a base to launch hundreds of missiles and anti -tank shells at Israel” and that the forces carried out “operations to remove threats.” She said they found more than 30 weapons baccalaureates, and weapons were stored in “residential buildings, squares, kindergartens and cellars.”

Local residents say Israeli demolitions are a daily fact. The photos that people took around Naqoura, another border village, appear in December and early January, the Israeli bulldozers apparently destroy homes.

The Lebanese army entered the Naqura January 7 But Abbas Awada, the mayor, said that the residents are waiting for the army to announce that he had removed all the unexploded munitions before returning.

Before agreeing to the ceasefire, the Israeli forces had already done so Systematic destroyed buildings Near the border. Despite their withdrawal from more than twelve villages along the west and in the middle of the border, they are still in most of the eastern section.

The local employer, Musa Huwak, lost his house, in addition to a chicken farm and a wilderness store, in Aita shortly after the ceasefire began. After fled from the town to the southern suburb of Beirut, he saw the destruction through the pictures taken by the other population who returned shortly to inspect the village.

“Their goals are well known, and we understand them.”.

The conflict began after Hezbollah began shooting towards Israel in the wake of Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel. The cross -border shooting has escalated over a year when Israel launched a land invasion and a devastating attack against Hezbollah in October last year.

More than four thousand people were killed in Lebanon and 140 Israelis in the conflict. About a million people were displaced in Lebanon and 60,000 in Israel.

Ramzi Qais, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said that the presence of Hezbollah’s military infrastructure does not justify many of the measures taken by Israel under international law.

He said: “Even if there are military targets in those villages, such as the tunnels that Hezbollah uses, there are serious questions that arise about whether this level of destruction is necessary.” “The entire border villages, contrary to what some Israeli officials would like to claim, cannot be considered military targets.”

Some of the most intense demolitions have been carried out in the village of Halawi, Kafr, both. “There are explosions every day,” Halawi said. It was estimated that a lot of damage occurred after the ceasefire. He said that Israel “crosses a lot of borders.”